Missing
by Cheezel1993
Summary: Sonic is missing, his friends don't know how to find him. It seems they're going to have to seek help from an unlikely person. Someone who doesn't have much respect for our blue hero. Story features an OC
1. Chapter 1: Four Days gone

**Disclaimer: Sonic the hedgehog belongs to SEGA. I only own my OC and this story.**

**Chapter 1**

(Somewhere outside Mobotropolis)

Sonic was out for another one of his nightly runs. If there was one thing he loved most in the world it was the feeling he got as he ran at the high speeds he was known for, the feeling of freedom. Freedom was his ecstasy, he loved every bit of it. Sonic stopped running at a single tree that sat atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was a nice night, but the way the moon and stars shone lighting up the landscape and making the ocean glisten made it all the more beautiful.

"I don't think I've ever seen a sight as amazing as this," Sonic said to himself as sat at the base of the tree looking out to sea.

He closed his eyes as he sat there, feeling the calm breeze move over his face and listening to the ocean waves crash into base of the cliff below. He opened his eyes again as a smile crept onto his face.

"Yep, it doesn't get any better than this," he said speaking to himself again, still smiling.

His ears suddenly picked up the sound of a stick snapping and leaves rustling. He reacted to late though as he felt something jab into his neck followed by a sting. He let out a yelp of pain before bringing his hand up to the place on his neck where the pain was coming from. His hand came into contact with a small dart shaped object. He stood up as he pulled the intruding object from his neck and looked at in his hand. It was indeed a dart of some kind.

"What in the.." Sonic slurred as he began to feel dizzy and his vision became blurry.

He tried to run but tripped on his own feet and fell onto the ground with a thump. Weakly raising his head he saw two sets of feet approaching him. Even in his disoriented state he immediately recognized a familiar pair of boots that belonged to none other than Dr Eggman.

"Finally one of plans my have worked, and to think it would be through such a simple method," Eggman gloated.

"It worked because it wasn't your plan in the first place Dr," the other growled, shutting Eggman down.

"What do you.. it was.. well I.. rrgh never mind, let's just get Sonic back to the base so we can continue," Eggman grumbled defeatedly.

Sonic passed out as he felt a pair of hands begin to lift him up.

(4 days later in Mobotropolis, Castle Acorn)

Sonic had been missing for four days now, all of his friends were beginning to become very worried of his absence. Sonic never just randomly disappeared, if he was ever going somewhere outside Mobotropolis for a few days he would let someone know. The first day he was gone everyone just figured he was out running or having a day to himself. The second day his friends began searching for him, calling him constantly and checking places around the city he was known to hang around. On the third day the tension began sink in, nobody knew where he was and he hadn't left a single message to lead them to his whereabouts.

Sally Acorn was sitting at a desk in her office inside of Castle Acorn. She had hired detectives from all over the city to search for Sonic, even going as far as hiring the Chaotix Detective Agency even though they weren't the most reliable ones around. All in all, so far not a single person knows what could have possibly happened to Sonic.

Sally didn't want to consider that someone may have captured him. Sonic had more or less never been captured in his life, he was to fast and to agile for someone to get the slip on him. Thinking he may be dead made her gut churn, that was a possibility she refused to believe.

"Sonic, where are you?" Sally worriedly whispered to herself as she stared out the window. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she answered.

The door opened revealing Tails as he walked into the office.

"Hello Tails," Sally greeted as she put on weak smile for him.

"Hey Sally, I heard you were feeling pretty down so I thought I might drop in and see how you were going," he replied.

"In all honesty Tails, I'm not good. Four days and still no sign of him. Something bad has happened, I don't want to believe it but I'm sure it's true." Sally's smile dropped as she put her elbows on her desk and placed her head in her hands.

"I'm sure something will come up soon Sally. I know it's hard but you just have to keep your head up and think positively," Tails tried to comfort her.

Sally let out a sighed chuckle. "You're the younger one here and yet I'm the most worried out of us both. I don't know how you keep yourself so composed through all this."

"Someone has to be the one to keep a positive outlook through the tough times," Tails chuckled

"You certainly have grown up Tails," Sally replied.

Suddenly Tails and Sally heard a commotion coming from down the hall from the office. Vector burst through the doors roughly pushing past Tails as he entered.

"Hey Sally, what's with all this about not being paid unless we're the ones who find Sonic,"Vector asked in an upset and annoyed tone.

"That's just how it is Vector, if you're the one who finds Sonic then you will be the one who gets the reward," Sally calmly replied not being phased by Vectors rudeness. She had expected to get this from the greedy alligator.

"What! Come on Sally. Surely we should get a little compensation for the hard work we're doing."

"That's how it is Vector. The deal isn't going to change no matter how much of a storm you stir up," Sally was beginning to get slightly annoyed now.

"Well forget this then. I'm more than certain the only way Sonic will be found is if he just walks back into town by himself," Vector stated in a huff.

Tails was listening to the whole conversation. He would never admit it but he had figured the exact same thing as Vector. It may have only been a day since the searching began, but with the amount of people looking for Sonic some sort of clue should have turned up by now. Tails looked over at Sally, he could tell by the look on her face that she was thinking the exact same thing.

"Well then it's hopeless. We're never going to find him," Sally stated before letting her head drop onto her desk in defeat.

"Look Sally, I'm not usually the kind of guy to give out information for free, but I guess I could just this once," Vector offered. Sally lifted her head back up off the desk and looked at Vector in interest.

"Go on," Tails said to him.

"I've heard of this guy. He's a bit of a detective as well as a bounty hunter. From what I've heard he's never missed his mark. Every job he's taken has been a success," Vector told them.

"That's perfect!" Sally almost shouted. She was willing to take any help she could get. "When can we meet him."

"That could be a bit of a problem Sally. He never meets his clients in person and from what I've heard he doesn't play well with others if you catch my drift," Vector replied. "But if you want to meet him you may have to talk to Espio. He says he's met the guy one time, however no one knows where he lives."

"Right now I don't care, but if I'm going to hire him I'll have to meet him first."

Vector gave Sally a nod and said he would go and find Espio before taking his leave.

"I hope this works out," Tails said

"That makes two of us,"Sally replied

(Later in the day)

Sally's office was now being occupied by a few more people as they waited for Espio to show up. In the office were Sally, Tails, Rouge, Mina and Rotor. Rouge, working for G.U.N., had been helping with the search. Mina however had been passing through on one of her shows tours when she heard the news, she had put her tour on hold in hopes she could help in some way.

"How long is it going to take for Vector to find one person, his own partner for crying out loud. I thought detectives were supposed to be good finding people," Rouge stated in an impatient tone.

"This is Vector we're talking about," Mina said, giving everyone in the room something to chuckle about.

Five minutes later the purple chameleon finally arrived followed by his two Chaotix partners, Vector and Charmy.

"I was told you needed to see me princess?" Espio asked in his usual calm tone.

"Please just call me Sally would you Espio. And the answer to your question is yes. I was told you might be able to find someone to help us with our search for Sonic," Sally replied.

"I can't actually find him for you, but I can point you in the right direction."

"Please Espio, anything that might help some way," Rotor said to him.

Espio looked at Rotor and then gazed at Sally for a brief moment. "The man has record, if you check it you might be able to find his address."

"Wait, record? As in a criminal record?" Tails asked slightly perplexed.

Espio simply nodded. "I should probably warn you, he's not a very social person and he can get quite aggressive if you're not careful."

"So all we have to do is look him up on the criminal database and we'll find him?" Rouge was next to ask.

"Yes, you should do that now if you're truly set on meeting him in person,"Espio replied.

"Before we go, how do you know him?" Mina asked

"I had a run in with him during a job. It appeared that the client had hired a second detective to work the case in hopes of it being solved quicker. I more or less told him to get lost and find another case to work on. We got into an argument and.. well," Espio drifted off from the story.

"Go oooon," Vector teased him. This story obviously amused Vector some how.

"I ended up with a fractured jaw," Espio stated finishing the story.

Everyone was a little shocked by this. Everyone except Charmy and Vector who were silently laughing behind him.

"How does some random guy manage to fracture the jaw of a trained ninja?" Rotor asked

Espio responded by staring at Rotor, he obviously didn't want to answer the question.

"I don't know about the rest of you but I think I might go found where this guy lives instead of wasting my time with stories," Rouge bluntly cut in before leaving Sally's office. The Chaotix team followed Rouge out.

"I think I'll go with them and see what can we find out about him," Tails said to Sally. She gave him a nod and he left the office to catch up with the others.

Down at the police station Rouge, Espio and Tails had just walked through the doors. Vector and Charmy had left stating they were no longer needed. The three of them approached the receptionist at the front desk and asked to see the records on a particular person. The cat that sat there simply stated she couldn't allow them to see any of the police records seeing as they weren't authorized to do so. Rouge let out a huff before producing her G.U.N. identification badge and showing it to the lady.

"Is that identification enough for you?" Rouge asked somewhat irritated by the setbacks. The cat verified her credentials and then led her to a computer so they could begin their search.

Espio sat down in front of the screen and began to search through the database. Twenty minutes later and they were still looking.

"How long is this going to take?" Rouge asked not even attempting to hide her boredom or frustration.

Tails was sitting in a chair staring up at the ceiling as he waited for the results. He was usually the patient one, but even he was starting to get bored. He began to think of what might happen if Sonic didn't turn up. Everybody would be hit hard without a doubt, Tails felt he would take it the worst though. Sonic and him were practically brothers, they were more or less inseparable back in the day. The anxiety and nervousness was slowly eating away at him, he knew he couldn't continue being the calm and positive one forever. At some point, everyone will break down.

Tails was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Espio say he had found what he was looking for. All three of them drew their attention to the computer screen.

"What the? They don't even have a name or a picture on his record. How did you manage to find it Espio?" Tails asked.

"I looked for my name. There's only one person in here that would have my name on his record. I charged him when he broke my jaw," Espio replied.

"So he lives on twenty-three Argyle street. That's on the south district in the worst part of town. I can't believe he lives in that hellhole," Rouge told the other two. "All I can see on here are assault charges, he really must have a bad temper."

"I think that's all we're going to find out. We should send a few people to go get him," Tails suggested.

"I'll go with them. I'm interested to see if he puts up fight or if he comes peacefully," Rouge said with a smirk before leaving to find someone to help with the pick up.

"I guess we should head back to Sally and give her the news," Tails said to Espio receiving a nod in agreement.

(Mobotropolis, South district)

Rouge was seated in the backseat of a police vehicle as they drove to their destination. Rouge had made the decision to find two of the bigger cops in station just as a precaution. Driving the car was a rather intimidating looking brown bear. In the passenger seat was his partner, a fairly muscular looking black dog. It took them fifteen minutes to get to their location.

"This is the place," the bear said stepping out of the car.

"What a shithole," his partner stated.

Stepping out of the car and looking across the road Rouge saw an almost run down looking apartment building. According to the records the man lived in the number five apartment on the second floor. They wasted no time making their way up the stairs to the apartment. Once they reached the door the bear knocked and used the oh so original line, "Police, Open up!" There was no reply so they tried again, still no reply. After the next knock the bear threatened to kick the door down if he didn't open. They had thought he wasn't home but they decide to proceed anyway. With no other choice they kicked in the door.

The apartment was small. Small bedroom, small bathroom, small kitchen, you get the picture. The two cops entered the apartment, Rouge waited at the door. The curtains were closed and the lights were switched off leaving the room very hard see in. The apartment smelt like cigarette smoke. The cops entered and began to look around, however they didn't see the figure standing in the corner staring at them as they entered. The bear was the first in, he didn't see the glass ashtray come flying at his head until it connected and shattered causing him to fall to the ground holding his head in pain. His partner went to assist him only to be spear tackled into the wall winding him. Their attacker went to leave but was suddenly stopped by a quick acting bat who delivered a strong kick to the side of his head knocking him to the ground. Thinking quickly, Rouge snatched up one of the coppers cuffs and handcuffed the man who was now on the ground.

"That wasn't exactly what I'd call a warm welcome," Rouge teased. "How about we get some light in here," she continued before flinging open the curtains drowning the room in sunlight.

Now that the room was lit up she had a look at their would be fugitive. He looked to be about the same age as her, his hair was long, it was grown to halfway down the back of his neck, it was blonde but it looked greasy as if it hadn't been washed in a while. He wore a black leather jacket over a white long sleeve shirt, some faded and torn blue jeans and black converse shoes. The thing that caught her attention though was that he was human. There weren't many humans on Mobius.

Rouge noticed the two cops were starting to get back onto their feet. "Times a wasting boys. Let's get back to castle with our new friend," she teased.

The cops stared at her for a moment and then at the other man before picking him up and carting him to the car. The man stared at the ground as he was escorted to the vehicle. The cops literally threw him into the back seat of the car, he let out a slight groan as his head connected with the opposite door. Rouge casually stepped into the vehicle taking her seat as she watched the man straighten himself up. For the next five minutes of driving everybody sat in silence. That was until they heard a clicking noise coming from the man. Next thing they knew he had brought his hands around from behind his back and had placed them on his knees, he'd managed to undo the handcuffs.

"Present for you," he said to Rouge as he handed the handcuffs to her.

"Show off," she replied smirking.

"Put those things back on him, I don't trust him," one of the cops growled. The man smirked and held his hands over to Rouge, she handcuffed him again. Three minutes later he had removed the cuffs and handed them back to Rouge yet again, Rouge let out a chuckle as the cops grumbled in the front seat.

(Castle Acorn)

Sally was still in her office. With her was Tails, Rotor, Mina, Bunnie and Antoine. Espio had left earlier. Everyone was becoming nervous, they weren't sure what to expect from this man. It wasn't long before they heard a commotion coming from down the hall again. They heard some shouting followed by a yell. The doors opened and Rouge was the first to enter.

"That was certainly an interesting excursion," Rouge said to everyone.

"Did you have any trouble," Sally asked.

"In a way," Rouge smirked. "You've all got one hell of a surprise coming your way."

One moment later the man the whole commotion had been over entered Sally's office, he was followed very closely by three castle guards. One of guards was cradling his own arm.

"What happened here?" Sally asked.

"He broke my damn arm," the guard groaned.

"And I told you to stop pushing me and to get your hands off me. I did warn you," the man cut in. The guard muttered something under his breath and left to get his arm taken care of.

"I thought you might have had him handcuffed," Sally then said to Rouge pointing at his uncuffed hands.

"I did handcuff him," Rouge replied, "Five times." Rouge looked over at him and caught him smirking at her. He then proceeded to produce a cigarette from his pocket light it up.

"You can't smoke in here!" Sally almost yelled at him.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me," he replied as he continued to smoke his cigarette. Sally simply sighed and shook her head.

"So what is this surprise you mentioned?" Sally asked directing her attention to Rouge. Rouge responded by just looking at the man. He noticed that everyone was now staring at him. He then used his hands to push his hair back behind his ears revealing his face.

"Connor!" everyone in the room, besides Rouge, shouted.

"Long time no see guys," Connor said to everyone. Connor was a past friend of theirs, they hadn't seen him for almost three years now.

"Connor, I haven't seen you since.." Mina said, going quiet at the end of the sentence.

"Since I caught you cheating on me with that blue bastard," Connor finished her sentence for her.

"It wasn't like that!" Mina quickly stated.

"Oh really, then what do you call me finding you and Sonic practically sticking your tongues down one another's throats." Mina didn't say anything. "Exactly, there's no other name for it. You cheated on me," Connor finished.

Three years ago Connor and Mina had been dating. He had walked in on Sonic and Mina making out with each other. After seeing that he immediately dumped her and began to push all of his friends away from himself. He became secluded and even went as far as moving houses without telling anyone so they couldn't find him. For the past three years his whereabouts had been a mystery to them all.

"Enough with the reunions, why the hell am I here!" he demanded.

Shaking the surprise off Sally replied. "We were told you could find almost anybody if the price was right."

"If that's what you've heard then you would be correct," Connor replied slightly interested now.

"Sonic's missing, we need help to find him," Tails told him. Connor began to quietly chuckle.

"What are y'all laughing about," Bunnie asked, somewhat confused.

"Even if I could find him, what makes you think I would actually want to?"

"But you're his friend," Rotor cut in.

"No, out friendship ended when he betrayed my trust. Besides, what could you possibly offer me in return. I don't want your money," Connor coldly stated. Everyone was quiet, they felt defeat wash over them.

"We could have that piece of jewelry around your leg removed," Rouge quickly said.

"What are you talking about Rouge?" Sally asked. Connor looked at Rouge and then Sally. He then looked down at his left leg and lifted up the jeans leg. Underneath was what looked like some sort of bracer.

"Is that a tracker," Tails asked.

"Yep, because of my past 'incidents' the cops have decided I can't leave Mobotropolis for some time. If I leave the city boundaries then the tracker will activate and lead them right to me. They've threatened to throw me in the slammer if I do just that," Connor replied.

"I'm sure we can work out something to have it removed, if you find Sonic of course," Sally offered. Connor thought for a moment, he had been wanting to leave the city for some time but due to the circumstances he hadn't been able to. Connor held his hand out to Sally.

"So it's deal then?" she asked before shaking his hand.

"It's a deal," he replied.

"Before you leave Connor, there's just one thing I'd like to happen. I want someone I know accompanying you. I want to know where you're at during your search and I'm guessing you won't spare a moment to let me know from time to time," Sally quickly added.

"Fine, whatever," Connor replied impatiently. "Who do you want to send. I'm telling you now, I'm not having one your royal guards or some cop come with me."

Sally gazed around the room. No one looked like they wanted to volunteer. Rouge suddenly piped up.

"Fine then I'll go with him. I'm actually somewhat curious to see how much you've changed Connor."

Connor directed his attention to Rouge. "Come find me tomorrow, we'll start searching then," he told her. With that, he left the building.

"I hope we made the right choice here," Tails said to Sally once Connor left.

"You and me both Tails, you and me both."


	2. Chapter 2: Searching

**Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog franchise belongs SEGA, I do not own any part of it other than this story. OC belongs to me also**

_Chapter 2_

(Eggmans Base, Location Unknown)

Sonic had been Eggmans prisoner for five days now. He wasn't entirely sure what Eggman was up to, or who his other captor actually is. Sonic had been stuck in a cell almost the entire time. When he wasn't in his cell he was strapped to a table. He'd been getting needles jabbed into him all over his body. Sonic was in pain from the abuse his body had been going through, he also felt weak from the gas Eggman would pump into his cell to knock him out whenever they moved him to another room. It was as if thinking of that triggered an action, because the next thing Sonic knew his cell was being pumped with gas yet again. He lost consciousness yet again before he was moved to the operating room for another round.

Sonic once more woke up strapped to the all familiar surgical table. He felt a sharp pain coming from chest. They'd obviously been sticking him with needles. As his vision began to clear up he started to move his head and look around the room. The first thing he noticed was the device placed next to the table on the left of him. It looked like a computer sitting atop a small bench with a robotic arm attached to it. As Sonic was summing up the machine Eggman entered the room.

"Ah good your awake, now we can proceed," Eggman stated, almost warmly.

"What are you up to Eggman?" Sonic asked.

"All in due time my dear boy. For now, let us continue with our work."

He approached the computer and pushed a few buttons on the keyboard. The arm sprung to life and swung itself around until coming to a stop above Sonics head while to clamps came out of the table and held his head in place. A few more buttons were pressed causing a long thin needle to extend from the tip of the arm, a laser pointer also activated aiming itself at Sonics left eye. Eggman entered one final command. The needle began to rotate spinning faster and faster, as it started up it let out a high pitched squealing noise. The arm moved downwards slowly bringing the needle closer to Sonics eye. After what seemed like an eternity of suspense, contact was finally made. The needle pushed itself through his pupil and deeper into his eye, the computer began making noises once the needle stopped digging. Sonic screamed in pain, jerking all of his limbs around trying to break free of his restraints. Eggman appeared to be enjoying Sonics suffering, smiling evilly and chuckling at times. Sonic was thinking the pain would never end.

After a few minutes the needle finally removed itself, it stopped spinning once it was out and retracted back into the arm. A small amount of blood trickled out of his eye as he laid there exhausted from pain and shock. Eggman was scanning over his computer.

"Excellent! The results are perfect. The tests were a complete success!" he shouted gleefully.

Sonic felt himself being dragged out of the room by one of Eggmans minions. It didn't take long until he was once again thrown roughly into his cell. Sonics eye was hurting like nothing he had ever felt before. His eye wasn't just stinging, it felt like it burning. It was as if someone was sticking his eye with a red hot poker. All Sonic could do was lay there on floor until the pain passed and try to figure out what scheme Eggman had come up with this time.

(Mobotropolis, South District)

It was now ten A.M. Rouge had just arrived outside the apartment building Connor lived in. She was waiting patiently as Connor walked onto the street to meet her.

"I'm surprised you actually showed up," Connor said to her.

"Well I did say I was going to help didn't I," she replied. "I suppose this makes us partners," she then added teasingly. Connor simply shook his head and sighed before walking down the street.

"Where are we going?" Rouge asked.

"First up I'm getting my car back, and that bastard had better not try to rip me off."

"What do you mean? And since when do you have a car?"

"You'll see," is all he said before lighting up a smoke.

They had to walk four blocks down the street to get to their location. Connor stopped walking when they arrived at mechanics shop. They walked into the building and Connor began to look around. A green eagle finally approached them after a couple of minutes.

"Connor, I was wondering when I was going to see you again," the eagle said. Rouge figured they knew one another.

"I'm not here to talk David, where's my damn car," Connor bitterly said to him.

"Come into my office," David replied before walking off, he appeared to be limping.

His office, if you could call it that, wasn't very much to look at. It was a small room with a table and few chairs around it. David sat down on the side of the table closest to the wall while Rouge and Connor took the two seats opposite him.

"What happened to your leg?" Connor asked him.

"I fell down some stairs, damaged my left knee pretty badly too, but anyway that's not what we're here to talk about. You want your car back Connor, well now you see there's a bit of a problem there, you're going to have to pay if you want it."

"You want me to pay extra to get my car back?"

"That's right, another two grand and you can have it back," David smirked.

Connor gave a sigh and then reached under the table and grabbed Davids bad knee, he then began to squeeze tightly. David let out a yell as pain coursed through his from the pressure being applied, he tried to remove Connors hand but grip was to tight.

"You can have it back for a grand then," David squeaked in pain. Connor squeezed tighter still, causing more pain to rush through his leg. "Fine screw it, here's the keys," he finally gave in while taking a set of keys out of his pocket and throwing them on the table.

"I'm glad we could come to an arrangement," Connor said while picking up the keys and releasing David's knee. David jerked back in relief and clutched his knee groaning in pain.

"That was interesting yet effective way of haggling," Rouge playfully said as they walked out.

Connor and Rouge left the office and entered the workshop. Connor found his car and pulled off the cover they had over it. Underneath was a black 1969 style Camaro.

"Nice ride," Rouge complimented while she stepped into the passenger seat.

"It's about time I got it back," Connor replied, he starting the engine a drove out onto the street.

"So what now?" Rouge asked him.

"Now, we find someone who can point us in the right direction. And I know just who to speak to."

Connor switched on the CD player in the car, heavy metal music instantly started playing through the speakers. Rouge couldn't stand the music that was playing but it seemed to calm Connor down, she didn't say anything and instead just tried to bear with the music.

They drove for twenty minutes into East side of the city. Connor parked the car outside of a takeaway shop, he and Rouge stepped out of the car and walked inside the store.

"Why are we stopping for food?" Rouge bluntly questioned Connor.

"Who said anything about food", he replied as they stepped up to the counter.

A brown fox approached the counter not looking at them. "Hello, what I can get you?" he asked. The fox looked up and locked eyes with Connor for a good five seconds. The fox motioned behind him and walked to back of the store. Connor and Rouge stepped outside and walked into an alleyway behind the shop, the fox was waiting there for them.

"What do you need this time?" he asked once they approached him.

"Well hello to you to Jason. Anyway, I'm after any information you might have on the disappearance of Sonic the Hedgehog," Connor replied.

"Yeah I've heard a couple of things, they might just be rumors but it's info none the less. Who's the chick?" Jason said, directing the last part at Rouge.

"Don't worry, she's with me," Connor answered, he pulled out a couple of hundred dollar notes and handed them to Jason.

"Ok, word around is that one of the local gangs may have had something to do with it. You've heard of The Grimms right?" Jason said.

"I know of them. However no one knows where their hideouts are, they're constantly changing the location," Rouge cut in.

"Is that all you got?" Connor asked him.

"Not quite, one their members drives a dump truck, he's sort of in and out with the gang. He'll be making a stop at an alleyway three blocks down from here in twenty minutes. It's in between a diner and a warehouse. He might be able to tell you something," Jason finished.

"Well that's something to go on at least, thanks for the info," Connor said before he and Rouge walked back to the car.

"Since when do you have contacts?" Rouge asked stepping back into the car.

"He's not a contact. He's just a guy who keeps his ear to the ground. Whenever I need some form of information I go see him. He isn't a snitch, but for the right price he could tell you just about anything you want to know. You'd be surprised by the amount of shit he knows," Connor replied.

Connor began driving down the street again. It didn't take them long to get to their destination. They still had fifteen minutes until their man would show up. Rouge started to become bored with just sitting in the car waiting. She chose to see if she could get Connor talk about where had been for the last three years.

"So Connor, I don't suppose you feel like sharing what you've been doing since you disappeared?" she asked. Connor didn't reply, he just continued staring out the window.

"Come on Connor, surely you have something to share," she persisted. Still no answer. Rouge began to get frustrated with his ignorance. "I'm your friend Connor, why can't you talk to me?"

"Because there's nothing to talk about," he finally replied. "My personal life is my own business and no one else's," he added angrily.

Rouge realized she had gone to far with all the questioning. She opted to keep quiet for the rest of the wait as not to upset Connor any further. The fifteen minutes passed by and a garbage truck finally backed into the the alley Jason mentioned.

"Right on time," Connor mentioned while looking at his watch, they saw a grey wolf get out of the truck and walk round behind it. Before exiting the car Connor reached into glove box and pulled out a simple 9mm pistol.

"What are you doing?!" Rouge asked, slightly alarmed.

"If this guy really is part of a gang, one of the worst gangs in the city should I mention, I'm not taking any chances," he calmly answered.

Slipping the pistol into his jacket pocket he stepped out of the car and walked over to the truck with Rouge close behind. The wolf was at the back of the truck calmly doing his job, throwing trash bags in to be crushed. He stopped what he was doing and turned his attention to Rouge and Connor once they approached him.

"Can I help you two," he enquired.

"Yes I think you can. I'm looking for someone, or should I say some people, and I'm positive you could lend me a hand with finding them," Connor answered. He almost sounded as if he was toying with the wolf.

"What in the world are you talking about?" he replied confused.

"The Grimms, where are they?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the wolf answered, going back to throwing garbage in the truck.

"So you say," Rouge said to him.

The wolf stopped what he was doing again and looked at Rouge. He suddenly threw a punch directed at Connors head. Unfortunately for him Connor caught the punch, following up by grabbing the front of the wolfs shirt and throwing him inside the back of the truck. He then took hold of the lever for the crushing mechanism and pulled it. The solid steel plate began slowly moving down towards the wolf.

"Wait wait wait!" he panicked, Connor stopped the crushing cycle. "I honestly don't know anything!"

"Wrong answer," Connor yelled, starting the cycle again.

Rouge was standing off to the side, in shock of Connors brutality. This was not the man she knew three years ago. He used to be a kind and caring kind of person. He would have condoned this kind of behavior.

"Got something you want to share," Connor asked the wolf.

"Ok I'll talk! I'll talk!" The crusher was stopped three quarters of the way down.

"I'm listening," Connor said impatiently.

"Ok listen. The Grimms hideout at the moment is at an abandoned petrol station outside the city. It's twenty kilometers out from the south side. You can't tell them I told you this or they'll kill me!"

"Thank you for being so cooperative," Connor sarcastically replied. He then started to leave.

"Hey wait!" the wolf yelled out. The gap the crusher left was to tight for him to squeeze through. "Aren't you going to let me out!?"

"Someone will find you sooner or later and release you," Connor yelled back, leaving the wolf stuck inside the truck.

Inside the car Rouge was staring at Connor. He noticed her gaze out of the corner of his eye.

"Ok what's the stare for? Did I frighten you back there or something?" he asked.

"What happened to you Connor? Surely you didn't get like this just because you caught Mina cheating on you."

"Are you joking?! That was only part of it. The fact that nobody had my back during the whole ordeal is why I left. I found out who my true friends were then. As it turns out, none of them cared!" he replied angrily.

Rouge hadn't been around when it happened but she had heard about it. She suddenly realized what he meant. Apparently when Connor caught Mina and Sonic nobody took his side. All of his friends defended Sonic. They said he should just let it go, among other things as well. It only got worse when he was told they had been seeing each two weeks prior to him catching them. A few of his friends had known and hadn't said anything. After that, he disappeared.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up," Rouge apologized.

"No it's," Connor paused and let out a deep sigh, "it's alright. I've just got a lot of pent up anger and frustration in me."

"If it helps, I'm here if you ever want to talk to somebody," Rouge offered placing her hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head to face her. For the past three years he had believed that nobody gave a damn about him. Yet here was Rouge, showing actual concern for his well being. He could see in her eyes that she meant what she said, they showed true sincerity.

"Thanks," he replied, placing his own hand on top of hers.

She smiled and withdrew her hand from his shoulder. A smirk began to appear on her face.

"Now then, how about we get back to business a pay this gang a visit," she said changing the subject.

"That could be a problem," he replied.

"How so?"

"The tracker on my leg, remember. As soon as I leave the city limits it'll activate. Before you know it we'll have half of the city's cops on our ass. They've threatened to throw me in prison if I ever try to leave before my time with it is up."

"I see. Hey, you never did tell me how you got stuck with that thing in first place."

It was Connors turn to smirk now.

"I got into an argument with couple of guys at one of the local bars around here. Next thing you know, the argument has turned into an all out fist fight. I didn't realize they were cops until after I beat them. More trouble came after I refused to leave when the bouncers asked me to. We broke a stool on the way out that I refused to pay for, I refused to pay for it because 'we' broke it over 'my' thigh."

Rouge couldn't help but laugh when he mentioned how the stool was broken.

"Well I'm glad you're finding amusement from my misfortune," Connor sarcastically said.

"Come on, it is kind of funny."

"Yeah I suppose it is just a little funny."

Connor seemed to be lightening up a little. Rouge didn't want to push her luck by asking to many personal questions, she was however beginning to somewhat enjoy his company. Memories from the past suddenly started coming back to her. She and Connor had been quite good friends back then. They had always gotten along well, they'd even been able to relate to a few things with one another. Thievery had been one of those things. They loved swapping stories of some of the best heists they'd pulled off. She was actually the only person he shared those particular stories with.

"Rouge? Hey Rouge," Connor said waving a hand in front of her face.

"Wha-what? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she replied snapping out of her thoughts and back into reality.

"Yeah I noticed that. Anyway, what I said was, maybe there's a way we can get my tracker switched off for a little while so we can actually leave town."

"That could work. Perhaps with my position in G.U.N. I could get you an authorization for it."

"Not likely. The fact that the Mobotropolis Police were the ones that sentenced me means you don't have any jurisdiction in the matter. I was thinking we should give Sally a call. I'm sure she'd be able to help us out."

"It's worth a shot."

"I'll make the call then."

(At Castle Acorn)

Sally was sitting in her bedroom, anxiously waiting for any news from Connor or Rouge on their search. Her phone suddenly began ringing.

"Hello," she answered

"Hey there Sally," it was Connor on the other line.

"Connor, is that you?"

"No it's fricken Santa Clause, what do you think?" he replied sarcastically.

"I'm not in the mood for this Connor, where are you?"

"I'm at a phone booth on the East side of the city."

"Do you have any news Sonic yet?" she asked, there was a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

"Nothing solid yet, but that's not why I'm calling. We've hit a roadblock."

"What do you mean?"

Connor told her everything about not being able to leave the city and why he actually needed to leave. She was a little uncertain at first, thinking he might try and do a dash after his tracker came off. She agreed to help once he explained that he only needed it deactivated, not removed. In the end she was able to give him twenty-four hours. He thanked her and mentioned that he would let her know if anything came up.

Sally hung up her phone, she felt a little upset that Connor hadn't found anything on Sonic yet, then again he hadn't been searching for very long. She was suddenly startled when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said.

Tails opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind him. He appeared to be carrying some sort of folder under his arm, it looked to be rather thick as well. He sat down on the bed next to Sally.

"I found this in one of my drawers at home, I thought maybe you would like to look through it with me," he said, handing the folder to Sally.

She lifted up the hard cover flipping to the first page of the folder, it didn't take long for her to realize Tails had brought a photo album to her.

"There's a lot of old pictures in there, but there are quite a few recent ones as well. I thought that maybe if we remembered the good times in our lives, we could take our minds of this bad one we're going through," Tails said with a warm smile.

Sally returned the smile and turned the first page. As they were looking through the photos they talked about all the adventures they'd had from the memories the pictures brought back. Laughter and a little embarrassment here and there filled the room as each page was turned. Sally didn't realize that Tails had kept such a large collection of photos, but right now she was glad he did. The photos seemed to range from the absolutely beautiful to the downright hilarious. Tails tried to quickly flip the page when a picture of a very young him showed up. Sally stopped him however and then went on to playfully tease him about how he used to act back then. She remembered how she used to read him bedtime stories before he went to sleep, and the times she had to comfort him during thunderstorms when got scared. She couldn't help but chuckle at those memories.

Sally realized how much Tails had grown over the years compared to back then, maturity wise and physically. His maturity was far beyond that of most people his age. He had also gone through quite a big growth spurt a while back, he was now slightly taller than Sally.

Still looking through the photo album she suddenly froze when she saw one the pictures. It was a photo of Connor and Sonic before they had their falling out. They were facing the camera smiling. Sonic had his left hand clenched in a fist and hit resting on his hip, his right arm was simply next to his leg. Connor had his left hand placed on Sonics shoulder, his other hand was in his jacket pocket. Sally ran her hand across the photo.

"Our two lost friends," she muttered, she didn't realize Tails had heard her.

"Connor's not lost anymore you know," he said to her.

"In a way Tails, he is lost. He's changed, he doesn't seem to be our friend anymore."

"I guess you are right there. We can at least hope that when Sonic's back all of that will change."

"Yes, hope. I suppose hope is all we really have at this moment," she said with quiet chuckle.

Tails turned the page for Sally hoping to snap her out of the train of thought she was in, it worked as she then thanked him for bringing album for them to look through. Sally gave Tails a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before they went back to looking through his photos.


	3. Chapter 3: Remembrance

**Chapter 3**

(Mobotropolis, East Side)

Connor connected the phone back onto its holder before walking out of the phone booth he had used. Walking back to his car where Rouge was patiently waiting for him, he lit up another cigarette as he stepped into the drivers seat.

"How'd it go?" Rouge enquired.

"Sally managed to get me twenty four hours off," Connor replied.

He then suddenly lifted his left leg up and placed his foot on the cars dash, he pulled his jeans up a bit exposing the tracker attached to him. Rouge noticed a red light on the face of the tracker, she hadn't seen it earlier.

"What are we waiting for?" She asked.

As if on cue, the red light died signaling that the device had been switched off. Connor removed his foot from the dash and started the engine to the car.

"That's what we were waiting for. Now we can start to make a move," he said before flicking his cigarette butt out the window and driving off.

Rouge was nearly at her wits end with the heavy metal music Connor had blasting through the cars speakers. She couldn't help but feel relief wash over her when he finally switched it off.

"You could have simply asked me to turn the music off earlier you know," Connor chuckled.

"What? You're telling me this now. And how did you know I wasn't enjoying it?" Rouge asked.

"You looked all tensed up and stressed out as hell. It wasn't hard to notice," Connor teased.

"Well now aren't you an observant one," Rouge sourly replied.

"Hey, you're not going to get very far in life being ignorant now are you."

"I suppose you're right there," Rouge agreed.

Rouge stared out the window as thoughts ran through her head. She was still intent on finding out what happened to Connor after he disappeared. He obviously wasn't going to share that information freely though. Rouge turned her head and stared Connor for a brief moment. He caught her gaze out of the corner of his eye.

"I already know what you're going to ask and answer is still no, I'm not in any mood for telling that story right now," he said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Are you ever going to open up at all?" Rouge asked.

"We'll see," is all he said back.

Connor suddenly began to slow down and pulled into a parking spot in front of a flower shop. Without saying anything Connor jumped out of the car and walked inside. A few moments later he returned to the car carrying a single red rose. As they drove off Rouge gave Connor a confused look.

"Um, why did you find it necessary to buy a flower?" she asked. Connor didn't reply.

For the next ten minutes Rouge continuously tried to start a conversation, Connor however wasn't saying a word. He just continued to ignore her and focused on driving. Another five minutes went by and Connor began to slow the car down again. This time however, he pulled into a cemetery. After parking he stepped out of the car and walked off without saying a word. Rouge watched Connor as he walked out of sight before getting out of the car herself and heading off after him. When she finally caught up she found him kneeling in front of a single grave. The rose he had bought earlier was now placed on ground at the base of the gravestone. Rouge approached Connor and stopped once she was standing behind.

"Sarah Barker," Rouge spoke out loud reading the gravestone.

"She was twelve when she died," Connor sighed.

A single tear escaped his eye and ran down his cheek. He quickly brought a hand up to wipe his face clean. He wasn't fast enough to keep Rouge from noticing however. She knelt down next to him and placed one of her hands on his shoulder. Connor briefly looked at her before directing his gaze back to the grave.

"Who was she?" Rouge asked.

"A little hedgehog girl I found. She was alone, living on the streets," Connor replied.

"Didn't she have a family?"

"She did, for a while. Apparently she woke up one morning to an empty house. Her parents just up and left, they abandoned her. With no other family besides her parents, who were gone by then, she felt lost."

"So what happened," Rouge asked. She figured that this particular story might upset Connor but she wanted to find out more.

"It's like I said," Connor continued, "I found her, I took her in. I clothed her, fed her, gave her a home. My home back then was a lot better than the one I have now just so you know. She was shy at first, didn't completely trust me, I don't really blame her for being cautious though to tell you the truth. After a while however she opened up. She went from damaged and shy to being an happy ordinary little girl. After Sarah told me about what had happened to her I almost went ahead and tracked her parents down to demanded an explanation from them."

"I'm guessing you didn't though."

"No, I didn't. I figured it wouldn't solve anything so I just left it."

"So what was it like between you and Sarah?" Rouge enquired.

"Believe it or not, she ended up seeing me as if I was her father. That was fine by me though, I think she needed a father figure."

Rouge was feeling brave with her next question. "How did she die?" she asked.

Connor let out a sad sigh. "We were out for a walk one day, she wanted to go to the park so I agreed to take her. On the way there..." Connor went quiet. Another tear escaped his eye, he didn't try to cover it up this time though.

"On the way there a drunk driver came out of nowhere. He swerved off the road and hit us both with his car. My injuries weren't to bad, just a broken arm and some bruising. But Sarah, she was in a bad way. We were both taken to hospital, they fixed me up pretty quickly and I was discharged the next day. I refused to leave until Sarah was better though. Like I said, she was in a bad way. So many of her bones were broken, multiple internal injuries and brain damage to boot. I stayed by her bed night and day, I never left her side. Her injuries were to extreme though, she passed away three days later. I never forgot her last words to me as she laid in that hospital bed. She said.. 'thank you'." Connor let his head droop as he finished telling Rouge the story. His eyes were now wet with tears.

"There's nothing you could have done," Rouge said trying to comfort Connor.

"Don't say that," Connor replied. He stood up not taking his eyes off of Sarah's grave. "I know it's true, but I don't want to hear that."

"So what happened to the driver?" Rouge asked him

"The driver was the son of some rich asshole who has a lot of pull around the city. The bastard got off scott free," Connor replied bitterly.

"I'm sorry," Rouge said standing up as well.

"Don't be," Connor said back. "It's not like you had anything to do with it. You don't need to be sorry."

Connor turned around and started to walk back to the car. Rouge suddenly turned Connor back around to face her and wrapped her arms around him hugging him. This motion took Connor completely by surprise, he couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Everyone suffers loss," she said to him. "You need to celebrate her life rather than mourn her death. What matters is that you never forget her," Rouge finished.

Connor didn't return the hug, he just stood there listening to Rouge's words. When she released him he immediately turned around and began walking back to the car again. What Rouge had said was now running through his head like a broken record. He got into his car and lit up a smoke while he waited for Rouge to join him. She stepped into the vehicle as Connor started up the engine.

"Right then, let's get back to what we were doing beforehand shall we," Connor said with a light smirk.

"Yes, let's," Rouge replied, returning the smirk.

**Short chapter I know. There wasn't really anything on Sonic or the others in this one either but I am going to try and put some more on them in the next chapter.**

**I also have a small amount of writers block which doesn't really help.**


	4. Chapter 4: Chasing a Lead

**Chapter 4**

"Give me food, and I will live; Give me water, and I will die. What am I?"

"That's an easy one Rouge. It's fire. Alright here's another one for you. The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who needs it doesn't know it. What is it?"

"Come on Connor that's an old one. It's a coffin."

Rouge and Connor had been challenging each other with riddles to pass the time during the drive. Most of them had been pretty simple ones. Every now and then though one of them would tell one that would make the other really think.

"Okay I've got one that you'll never guess," Connor stated confidently.

"Let's hear it then," Rouge replied.

"This thing all things devours; Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays kings, ruins towns, and beats high mountains down."

"I can't say that I've ever heard that one before. I'm going to need some time to figure this one out." Rouge said.

Connor chuckled. He was certain she wouldn't be able to find the answer to it. Out of all the people he had told this particular riddle to only one person had ever gotten the answer to it. Connor looked over at Rouge, she had a stern expression on her face showing she was hard at work trying to find the answer.

"I can see the wheel turning but the mouse is dead," Connor teased.

"Shut up Connor, this isn't exactly an easy one now is it," she shot back. There was a hint of annoyance in the tone of her voice.

"Do you want to know a riddle I've never been able to figure out?" he asked.

"Shoot," Rouge replied.

"Why Sarah's last words were 'Thank you'."

"We're here," Connor suddenly added before Rouge could reply.

What Rouge saw certainly wasn't much to look at. The wolf hadn't been lying when he said the petrol station was abandoned. The building was a dump, it looked like it was about ready to collapse in on itself. There were a few people out front of the structure, working on their cars and cleaning some guns amongst other jobs as well. It was obvious that they were only squatters seeing as no one was doing anything to improve the state of the building. As soon as Connor brought the car to a stop all eyes diverted to them. Everyone in the area immediately stopped what they were doing, quite a few other people exited the building to see what had caught everybody else's attention. Connor turned his head to face Rouge.

"You ready?" he asked her. She gave him a nod in response.

They both stepped out of the car and started making their way towards the very unwelcoming looking gang.

"We're outnumbered big time here. I don't think I should have to mention that it would be in our best interest not to start any trouble right about now," Connor said as they were walking.

"Heh, I think I'm going to agree with you on that one," Rouge replied.

Connor counted at least ten to twelve gang members now standing out front of the building, he also noticed a grey lynx and a black and white skunk attempting to sneak up behind him and Rouge. He turned his head to look behind him as he was walking to let them know he knew that they were there, they instantly dropped the sneaking routine and began casually walking. Rouge and Connor came to a halt once they were standing four meters from the main group.

"Well I'd say I'm right where I want be," Connor said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What? Standing there with a shotgun pointed at the back of your head?" He heard the lynx behind him say.

Connor heard the sound of a shell being pumped into the barrel of a shotgun. Upon hearing that he quickly spun around, snatching the gun out of the hands of the lynx while directing a swift punch towards his nose knocking him straight onto the ground. The skunk went to make an attack of his own, but not before he realized he had the tip of shotgun barrel pointing towards his throat. He looked down at the barrel and then back up at Connor.

"You haven't got the balls," he snarled.

Connor lowered the barrel until it was then pointing at the skunks groin.

"How about I pull the trigger and then we see who has the balls hmm," Connor replied coldly.

Rouge had a bad feeling that all hell was about ready to break loose. She noticed that most of the other gang members were starting to get fidgety, a lot of them had their own guns drawn now.

"What happened to not starting trouble? Dammit Connor," Rouge thought to herself. Just when she thought the bullets were about to start flying she heard another voice yell out.

"Enough! What the hell is going on out here?!" it shouted.

A fox walked out in front of the crowd and shot a glare towards Connor. The fox was blue save for the black tip on his tail. He had a rather nasty looking scar running down the left side of his face and was also missing part of his right ear.

"Just so you know, I don't take kindly to outsiders threatening my people," the fox growled.

"Well then perhaps you should know that I don't appreciate others threatening my wellbeing," Connor retorted.

Rouge directed her eyes to Connor. He caught her gaze and responded by lowering the gun so it wasn't pointing at the skunk. Connor gave a quick glance over shotgun and suddenly chuckled ever so slightly. He walked over to the lynx who was still on the ground and knelt down beside him.

"Next time you attempt to shoot somebody, try turning the safety off," Connor said before dropping the gun on ground next to him.

Connor stood back up and turned back around to face the fox who he presumed was the leader of the gang. Pulling a packet of smokes from his pocket he removed one and lit it up.

"Might I ask your name?" Connor enquired, holding out the packet offering the blue fox a smoke.

"My name is Joseph," he replied, taking one of the offered cigarettes. "Now I've got a question. Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Before Connor could reply Joseph cut in.

"Somebody frisk these two. I don't want one of them drawing a damn gun on me."

The men in the gang started arguing amongst themselves as to who would do the searching. It obvious they all wanted the job so they could get their hands on Rouge. Connor looked across at her, she had a disgusted look on her face.

"For christ sake," Joseph mumbled, "Fiona, you do it," he shouted out.

A red furred fox with brown hair began walking towards them. She was wearing a black belly top, black skinny pants and grey padded shoes. Connor noticed Rouge was glaring at the vixen, he figured they obviously knew one another, not in friendly way either. She stopped once she was standing in front of the two and placed her left hand on her hip.

"Nice to see you again Rouge, did you miss me?" Fiona smirked.

"If I never saw you again, it wouldn't be long enough," Rouge replied, there was venom in the tone of her voice.

"Well it's nice to know you haven't forgotten about me anyway," Fiona sarcastically said.

"So who's your friend? Aren't you going to introduce us?" She continued, directing her attention to Connor. "Is this another one of your men? I always thought Shadow and Knuckles would have been enough for you," She teased.

Rouge was glaring at Fiona. If looks could kill, Fiona would be nothing but a smoldering pile of ash right now. To say Rouge was angry would be an understatement, she was well past just being angry.

"I thought you would be with that lowlife Scourge, not causing trouble round Mobotropolis," Rouge said, it obvious that she was trying her best to calm down.

"Who said I've been causing trouble?" Fiona replied in an innocent voice. "As for Scourge. We may have been boyfriend, girlfriend, but he obviously didn't realize that I expected him to keep his hands off of other women. I ditched his pathetic ass long ago."

"Hey, can we cut the formalities here," Connor suddenly cut in. "Can you just do what you need to do so we can move on."

Fiona stared at Connor for a moment and gave him a smirk before moving to stand in front of Rouge.

"Arms out," she ordered.

Rouge complied by lifting her arms out to her sides so Fiona could frisk her. Fiona started from the shoulders and checked her all the way down to her feet. Satisfied after finding nothing she then approached Connor. She didn't say anything, she just looked at him. Connor raised his arms outwards only slightly with his palms facing forwards. Fiona did the same routine, starting at the shoulders and working her way down. Once she got to his jacket pockets however, she found the pistol he had inside one of them. She pulled it out and looked it over.

"Naughty," She said, tossing the firearm to Joseph.

Connor just simply gave her a shrug as she went back to searching him. Fiona slowed down when she got close to his groin. She looked at Connor with a sly smirk on her face.

"Who's the naughty one?" Connor said to her, his face showing no emotion.

Fiona let out a chuckle and got back to the task at hand. She felt the tracker wrapped around his leg and pulled his jeans up to get a better look at it.

"And what is this?" Fiona asked.

"An anklet," Connor casually answered as he flicked his cigarette butt away.

"Oh really."

"Yeah, it was a gift."

Fiona stood up from her kneeling position.

"They're clean," she told Joseph.

Fiona spun around to walk off, as she did she swished her tail across Connors face. While she was walking away she looked over her shoulder back at Connor and gave him a wink, Connor looked at the ground and simply shook his head. Joseph motioned with his hand for Connor to approach him.

"Right then, lets try this again. Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Joseph asked.

Connor told Joseph his name and gave him a brief rundown on the whole missing Sonic situation. He declined to mention the part where he left one Joseph's people trapped in a dump truck.

"So let me get this straight," Joseph started. "Your trying to find Sonic the Hedgehog, a person you don't even like, and for some reason somebody has told you that my gang is responsible for his disappearance. If you knew us well enough, then you would realize that we're not dumb enough to try and pull off a stunt like that. Anyway, if any of my people did a job then they would give the details of it to me. I know everything that goes on inside this gang at every time. Doing so otherwise, I consider that to be a betrayal."

To Connor, a lot of what Joseph said made sense. There certainly weren't many people around that would be game enough to attempt something as big as kidnapping Sonic. But then again, Jason had never been one to give out bad information. If Jason heard The Grimms were involved, then that's how it was. That only left the possibility that one Joseph's people were doing some outside work.

Out of the corner of her eye Rouge noticed a couple of people walk around the back of the building, she dismissed it as not being anything to worry about.

"So you're absolutely certain that none of your people could be involved in this in any way at all?" Connor pressed.

"I'm going say this one last time," Joseph replied, he was getting angry now. "No matter how big or small a job might be, if we do something, I would be the first person to know about it."

Suddenly a car came speeding out from the back the station and drove straight off down the road. Connor caught a glimpse of the two inside the vehicle, a yellow cat in the passenger seat and a red hedgehog driving.

"Are you still sure none your people are involved?" Connor sarcastically asked.

Before Joseph could reply Connor snatched his pistol back and sprinted over to his own car jumping in, Rouge was quick to follow. Flooring it down the road they chased after the two trying flee. They didn't get far before Connor and Rouge managed to catch up.

Connor rammed the back of their vehicle hoping to make the driver lose control, it didn't work. Bringing his car up along side the other Connor and Rouge looked at the two inside, the cat and the hedgehog looked unsurprisingly stressed from the whole ordeal. The hedgehog went on the offensive, ramming into the side of them trying knock them off the side of the road. To avoid this happening, Connor slowed down slightly and returned to the rear again. The cat wound down his window and leaned out of it, in his hand he had a micro Uzi of some sort. He opened fire, battering the vehicle with a violent assault of bullets. Connor began swerving to avoid the onslaught. Finally their attacker had to stop to reload. Many of the lead projectiles found their way through the windshield of the car, missing the heads of Rouge and Connor by mere millimeters.

"SON OF BITCH!" Connor screamed before once again ramming into the back of the opposing vehicle.

The impact knocked the cat around the frame of the window, he retreated back into his seat inside to avoid falling out of the car completely. Rouge looked over at Connor, one of the bullets had found its way through his left arm. From the position of the injury it didn't appear to have hit his humerus bone, the wound still had a steady flow of crimson liquid oozing out of it however. Connor grabbed his pistol and handed it to Rouge.

"Send a few back at em," he said to her.

Rouge wound down her window and positioned herself so she was holding onto the top of the frame and sitting on the base of it. Rouge pulled the trigger and continued until the clip was empty. The attack hadn't been as brutal as the Uzi, but Rouges precisely aimed shots made up for it. None of the bullets managed to make contact with the two in front, the locations they hit however were enough to have them realize they weren't dealing with amateurs.

"Have you got anymore clips for this thing?" Rouge asked, back inside the car.

"In the glove box," Connor replied.

Rouge opened the glove box and found one clip, with a single bullet fed into it.

"Theres only one bullet in this thing," Rouge practically shouted.

"Shit!" Connor yelled, "The one time I forget to buy ammo!"

Out of the corner of his eye Connor noticed a fast approaching figure in his side view mirror. Once it was close enough he realized it was Fiona. She speed up after them on a black motorbike, she was also wearing a black helmet. She popped a mono as she moved up to beside Connors car before dropping back down onto two wheels. Looking in at him she gave Connor a wink, Connor smirked and shook his.

"I don't think now is time to be flirting or showing off," he mumbled.

Moving ahead slightly, Fiona produced an Uzi of her own and began peppering the hedgehogs car. One of the bullets managed to find its way through the car and into the right shoulder of the cat. He reacted instantly, howling in pain and using his left hand to clutch his shoulder where the bullet had entered. Connor decided it was time to make a move of his own. Snatching the now reloaded pistol out of Rouges hand he wound down his own window. Keeping his hand on the wheel and his foot on the throttle he leaned out the window. Taking a deep breath to calm and relax himself he carefully aimed his weapon. Knowing he only had one shot he took his time. After five seconds of concentration he finally pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out the pistol and went on its directed path straight towards the rear right wheel of the car in front. The bullet hit its mark, the rubber around the tyre shredded off from the hit. The sudden loss of traction caused the hedgehog to lose control of his car as he swerved to try and regain control. He made to hard of a turn, causing his car to go sideways and sending it into a straight up barrel roll down the road. The rate at which the vehicle slowed down while it was spinning took both Fiona and Connor completely by surprise. They tried desperately to slow down but had to swerve away from the car to avoid a collision with it. Fiona turned to sharply to the right, the bike went straight down onto the road on its side taking Fiona along with it. When it finally came to a stop she was trapped underneath the weight of the motorcycle. Connor had swerved of to the left, he and Rouge hadn't faired much better. The car ran through a road sign and ended up straight in a ditch. Upon impact Rouges airbag deployed. Unfortunately for Connor, his didn't. He bashed his head straight into the steering wheel.

Back on the road underneath the bike Fiona was in pain. She didn't know what sort injuries she had but she was glad she had a worn the helmet. It had saved her head big time when she'd connected with the road. Pulling off her helmet she looked over at the wrecked vehicle which was now on its roof. She head a thumping noise along with a profuse amount of swearing. The drivers door burst out as the red hedgehog kicked it open before stepping out. The first thing he saw was Fiona trapped underneath her bike, a smirk grew on his face. He turned back to the car and reached inside pulling out a pistol. Fiona saw what he was doing and started desperately searching for something to defend herself with. On her right she saw her Uzi lying on the ground. She stretched her arm trying to reach it, it was just out of arms reach. Looking back at the hedgehog she saw he was now approaching her, the smirk still plastered on his face. Using her entire body she began willing herself to reach for the weapon. Finally she managed to clasp her hand around the handle of her Uzi. As she grabbed it however the hedgehog stepped on her wrist forcing her to release her grasp around her only means of defense. He kicked the Uzi away well out of arms reach before raising his pistol, aiming the barrel straight at Fiona's forehead.

"I suppose this is goodbye," the red hedgehog chuckled.

The sound of running footsteps diverted his attention and before he could pull the trigger he was tackled to the ground. Connor stood up from the ground and got back onto his feet. He was little shaky as stood there, obviously still slightly groggy from his crash. He had decent sized cut along the right side of his forehead. The hedgehog rose up and glared at Connor. He looked around for the pistol he'd had in his hand not a moment ago and spotted it lying on the ground. He went to dive for it, but before he could Connor had kicked it away off to the side of the road.

The hedgehog made the first move, he ran at Connor with a punch directed at his head. Connor blocked it and followed up with two heavy jabs to the chest before pushing him back. The hedgehog ran at Connor again going for the same move, at the last moment however he changed his attack and punched him straight in the gut. The impact winded Connor leaving him momentarily defenseless. The hedgehog saw his opportunity for an attack and seized the moment. He immediately began assaulting Connor with a barrage of punches and kicks. At one point he struck a blow to Connors bullet wound, causing him to roar in pain. The crimson attacker went to make another punch towards the said wound, Connor however managed to catch his hand before it could connect. With his free hand Connor started an assault of his own. Blow after blow connected with the hedgehogs face and chest. Connor pulled him into a headlock began to continuously knee him in the chest. Unbeknownst to Connor however, the hedgehog had drawn out a knife which he had kept concealed within his boot. Using the knife he stabbed Connor straight in his left leg. Connor instantly released him from the headlock and took couple of steps backwards, groaning in pain. The hedgehog booted him in the chest knocking him onto his back on the ground. He knelt over the top of Connor and went to drop the knife straight down into his face. Connor brought his own hands up stopping the blade mere inches from his face. It became a battle of strength as the knife would slowly move up from Connors face and then back down towards him. He began scanning his eyes around, trying to find something he could use. He spotted a knife sized shard of glass, easily within arms. An idea popped into Connors head, it wasn't one he really liked but it was the only one that could possibly save his life.

Using what strength he had he jerked on the blade forcing it away from his face to a position above the right side of his abdomen. The hedgehog gave a quizzical look. Connor released his hold on the knife allowing it to plunge deep into his flesh. Connor yelled in agony and as quickly as he could, he grabbed the shard of glass and stabbed the hedgehog straight in his side. The hedgehog screamed and fell onto his back. Connor jumped on him and began attacking his head. Blow after blow, he continued until the hedgehog finally fell unconscious.

With the fight finally over Connor let himself fall off the hedgehog and onto the ground beside him in exhaustion. He laid there breathing deeply, trying to ignore the pain that was coursing throughout his whole body. He looked to his side and saw the knife he had been stabbed with. The only thing was, the handle was there but blade was gone. Using his fingers he felt around his stab wound, the blade wasn't protruding though the skin but he could feel it underneath his flesh. He was pulled out of his trance by Fiona yelling out.

"Hey! Hey Connor! Please tell me you're still alive. I need help, I'm stuck over here."

Letting out a pained groan, he eventually got to his feet. Once standing he slowly stumbled towards where Fiona was rested. She now had herself propped up with her elbows, her lower half still trapped underneath the motorbike. Using what little strength he had left he lifted the bike up so Fiona could move herself out from under it before allowing it to crash back down to ground.

"Can you do me a favor and go check on Rouge," Connor said to Fiona.

Fiona gave him a nod a walked off towards the car. The force at which the airbag had deployed at had somehow managed to knock Rouge out, she'd been unconscious the whole time. Connor limped his way over to wrecked car that had belonged to the hedgehog, he was checking on the condition of the cat. He got the passenger side and forced the door open. The cat was dangling in his seat, strapped in by his seatbelt. Connor felt bellow his wrist trying to find a pulse, he found nothing. Letting out a sigh he walked away from the car and over to a tree that rested right behind where Fiona had been stuck earlier. Connor sat down at the base of the tree and rested his back on the trunk. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his smokes and his lighter. Looking inside the packet he found all but one his cigarettes had been snapped, obviously due to fight earlier. Connor lit up his cigarette and tossed the rest of the packet away behind him.

Looking up from his smoke he saw Fiona walking towards him with Rouge now in tow. Rouge ran up to Connor and knelt down beside him.

"Oh my god Connor, what happened to you?" she asked.

"That is a really dumb question Rouge, I got the shit kicked out of me what does it look like," he replied bluntly.

"I saw you take care of him," Fiona said, motioning towards the now unconscious hedgehog. "But what about the other guy?"

"He's dead, I already checked on him," Connor answered.

"Ok then, so what do we do now?" Rouge asked.

"Can you fly?" Connor enquired.

"Yeah I should be fine. Why?"

"If my car runs then Fiona and I can drive back to the others, you'd have to fly though. It is only a two seater after all."

Connor got to work on his car. With a few squeaks and groans from the engine he managed to get it running again, out of the ditch and back onto the road. With that sorted, Connor dragged the unconscious hedgehog over to the car and threw him into the trunk.

"Perhaps I should drive," Fiona offered, looking at Connor.

"Perhaps you should," he agreed.

Connor was having trouble simply standing on his own now. He could barely keep his eyes open. He slowly edged his way into the passenger seat as Fiona took the wheel. Rouge spread her wings and took off flying ahead of them.

"So much for my car," Connor joked once they were on the road.

"You just received the beating of a lifetime, and you're upset about your car?" Fiona replied.

"I was only joking, but I did only just get it back from its repairs this morning."

"Well still, you should be more concerned about yourself."

Connor was starting to lose control off himself. His body was feeling heavier at each passing moment. His eyes were now closed and his head was tilted downwards.

"Hey, stay with me now," Fiona said, giving his shoulder a shake. "We're almost there."

Rouge was already back by the time they arrived at the camp. It appeared she was talking to Joseph. Fiona brought the car to a stop and exited the vehicle, walking towards the two ahead. Connor sat in his seat for a few moments before opening his own door. When he opened it though he didn't just step out, he literally collapsed out of the car on his side onto the ground. He heard someone shout his name, in his disoriented state he couldn't make out who's voice it was.

Rouge had been the one who had yelled out his name, she had seen him hit the ground. She sprinted over to him to check on him. His once plain white shirt was now a deep crimson red, stained from the blood. Fiona followed Rouge as they rushed over to his side. Rouge dragged Connor away from the car, his legs limply falling to the ground as they fell out, and rolled him off his side and onto his back.

"Is there anyone who can help him?!" Rouge shouted in panic.

"Have you already forgotten about my medical skills?" Fiona replied rudely.

Joseph suddenly grabbed Fiona's shoulder and pulled her away.

"Why should we help him?" Joseph demanded angrily, "He's an intruder here, not to mention all the trouble he stirred up."

"He saved my life," Fiona shouted, "He also brought back one of the runners, go check the trunk."

Joseph walked to the back of the car and opened up the trunk. The hedgehog was still unconscious inside. Joseph let out a sigh.

"Fine then get him inside, he's your responsibility though Fiona."

Fiona gave him a nod. A tiger helped her lift Connor up and carry him inside the building.

"Someone tie him up inside the garage," Joseph said to his gang, motioning to the unconscious hedgehog. "We'll deal with him later."

Rouge followed Fiona as Connor was carried to the back of the store. In the back room he was placed on top of a table before he was stripped of his shirt and jacket. Fiona opened a bag she had brought in with her, inside were many surgical looking tools.

"You gotta come prepared," Fiona said, catching Rouge staring at the tools.

"You should wait outside," she added. "I'll let you know when I'm done."

Rouge was about to protest, but before she could she was escorted outside by the tiger that had helped carry Connor inside. Rouge figured that all she could do now was wait and hope for the best.

(Eggmans Base, Location Unknown)

Once again Sonic was being carted out of his cell, this time however his arms and legs had been bound to a wheel chair he was now being moved on. The robot wheeling Sonic along brought him to a stop outside of a large metal door. The door activated and opened up allowing the two to enter. The first thing Sonic noticed was the size of the room, it was about as big as the throne room at Castle Acorn. Looking around at his surroundings, it appeared that he had been brought to Eggmans main office. At the back of the room was a wooden desk with a seat placed behind it. The man himself was at back of the room staring up at large computer monitor that was positioned on the wall behind the desk. Eggman turned himself around to face Sonic, he seemed to be very happy about something.

"Ah Sonic, so nice of you to join me," Eggman greeted.

"Not like I really had a choice," Sonic replied, looking down at his restraints. "I never really took you for a nature person, why would you have a wooden desk in a metal fortress?" Sonic added.

"Why I thought I might change things up a little. Do you like it?" Eggman Sarcastically asked. Sonic didn't reply.

"Well now as to why I brought you to my office, I thought you might like to meet my business partner so to speak."

Eggman looked to his right, into the corner that was concealed with darkness. Out of the darkness stepped a figure. Sonic recognized him immediately.

"Mephiles?!" he practically shouted.

Mephiles didn't say anything, he just stared Sonic down.

"Do you have any idea what you could happen by teaming up with him?" Sonic asked Eggman.

"Oh believe me, I was skeptical at first. But once we worked out a deal everything fell into place," Eggman replied.

"What kind of deal?"

"Well you see, I will finally be able to construct my Eggman Empire."

"And what about Mephiles? What could he possibly be getting out of this?"

"Mephiles? Why, he gets you," Eggman finished with a chuckle.

"Me? What do you mean me?" Sonic asked, slightly alarmed.

"Do you have any idea how long I've waited, just to be the one to wipe you off the face of this planet," Mephiles cut in. "Once Eggmans received all the use he could possibly get out of you, I get to destroy you once and for all."

Sonic didn't reply to Mephiles, instead he directed his attention back to Eggman.

"What's with all the tests Eggman? What are you trying to accomplish?" Sonic asked.

"Ah ah ah, not just yet Sonic. I want it to be a surprise. You'll find out when the time is right," Eggman stated gleefully. "Take him back to his cell, he is no longer needed here," he ordered his Swatbot.

"Affirmative," the robot complied, turning the chair around and wheeling Sonic out of the room.

"Eggman and Mephiles working together? This is bad, surely Eggman would know that Mephiles can't be trusted." Sonic thought to himself. "Eggman is going to regret this, I'm positive. As for whatever he's brewing up, well, I guess I'll only find out when he decides it's sharing time."

"I hope everyone else has had a better few days than I have as of late."


	5. Chapter 5: Answers

**Chapter 5**

When Connor came to he found himself lying on top of a table, it was the same table he'd been on while Fiona had patched him up. Bandages covered all the places he had either been shot or stabbed earlier. The first thing Connor noticed was that he had a drip in his arm. The bag the drip was connected to was half full of a red liquid, obviously blood. The next thing he noticed was the only article of clothing he had on at the moment was his underwear. It took him a moment to remember where he was and what had happened. He heard the door to the room open and close, turning his head he found Fiona entering the room.

"Ah you're awake. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I'll give you three guesses but I figure you'll only need one," Connor replied, groaning slightly as he moved himself into a sitting position, letting his legs dangle over the table.

"Pretty damn sore is my guess. If that's the case, I'm not surprised," Fiona replied. Connor gave a nod in response.

"Um, I've got two questions," Connor said. "One, where are my clothes? And two, where the hell did you get blood?"

"I had to remove your clothes when I patched you up," She replied. "I've got a change of clothes here for you though."

Fiona picked up a bunch of clothes that had been sitting on chair next to the door and placed them on the table next to Connor.

"As for the blood," she continued. "You lost a lot of it and needed some replacement. Surprisingly Rouge knew your blood type, all I had to do was get some that matched."

"Who donated?" Connor asked.

Fiona proceeded to lift up the right sleeve of the black long sleeve shirt she was now wearing. Underneath there was a bandage wrapped around her own arm.

"You and I were a match. I figured it would be quicker to give you some of my own rather than try to find someone else," Fiona told him.

"You fixed up my injuries and then proceeded with giving me some your own blood. You saved my life, I'm in your debt," Connor said to her.

"You're not in my debt or anything like that. Just consider it as returning a favor," she replied.

Fiona pulled the drip out of Connors arm and helped him stand up off the table. She couldn't help but again notice the scar he had, she'd found it earlier. It ran from the bottom right of his abdomen up to the middle of his chest.

"You're going to have to tell me the story behind that one," she remarked, running one of her fingers down it. Connor looked at her and raised one of his eyebrows. Fiona responded with a light chuckle.

"I'll let you get changed," She told him as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Connor looked down at the clothes she had left him. He found she had given him a black suit of all things, a pair of suit shoes included. Connor figured that it was Fiona's idea of a joke. He didn't give a damn, as long as he had clothes to wear. Putting the suit on and doing his tie up he went to leave the room, he stopped when he noticed a lump inside the jacket pocket. Reaching inside the jacket he pulled out a packet of smokes and a lighter.

"Fiona I could almost kiss you," he thought to himself before popping one of the smokes into his mouth a lighting it up.

Walking outside of the building Connor found the sun was beginning to set.

"Shit, how long was I out," he said out loud.

"A few hours," he heard a voice behind him reply.

Turning around he found it was Rouge who had spoken. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Nice suit," she commented.

"It wouldn't have been my first choice but hey, beggars can't be choosers," he replied. Rouge gave him an understanding nod.

"Oh, I've got your things here. Your clothes were ruined but your belongings were alright," Rouge told him as she reached into her own pockets.

She pulled out a wallet, a phone, a set of keys and what appeared to be a silver locket necklace.

"If it makes you feel any better I didn't go snooping through your things," Rouge said to him, hinting that she hadn't opened up the locket or gone searching through his phone and wallet. "I have to ask though, what is with the locket?"

"It was my mothers. Let's leave it at that," Connor replied.

"Oh great," he heard Rouge say.

"What?" he asked.

Connor looked in the direction where Rouge was now glaring. He saw Fiona walking towards them.

"Come on Rouge cut her some slack, she helped us," Connor said.

"Just because she helped you does not mean I'm going suddenly start liking her," Rouge practically snarled.

"That's fine by me Rouge, I'm not a big fan of you either," Fiona stated once she was close enough, she had heard Rouges comment.

Rouge shot Fiona a glare before walking off, mumbling something about not spending the night here. Connor heard Fiona softly chuckle as Rouge left.

"I'm guessing you two have a bit of a history," Connor said, directing his attention to Fiona.

"Yeah, we've had our moments. She and all the others still hold a grudge from when I ditched the freedom fighters," she replied.

"You used to be a freedom fighter?"

"For a while yeah, until I decided it was time for a change of pace."

"I'm guessing that's when this, Scourge was it? That Rouge mentioned earlier came into the picture."

"Yeah, that's when I ran off with Scourge," Fiona replied, there was venom in her voice as she said his name.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened between the two of you," Connor asked.

"Long story short. I fell in love with him, ran away with, saw him for the womanizing bastard he really was, left him and ended up here," Fiona replied.

"From what I've heard around the place, that Scourge is hotheaded little prick."

Fiona let out a giggle at Connors remark.

"That's one way of putting," she replied. "You know, I've heard that you don't have much respect for Sonic and others, yet your helping with the search to find him. Why is that?"

"Why I don't like him or why I'm searching for him?" Connor asked, putting out his cigarette.

"Both," Fiona replied.

Connor got to telling Fiona his story. From his girlfriend cheating on him with Sonic, to him disappearing out of sight and leaving them all behind. Then he got to the reason why he was helping with the search.

"You actually dated Mina Mongoose? That famous rock star?" Fiona asked, slightly amazed.

"Yeah I did for a little while. Right now, I don't even know what I saw in her in the first place," Connor replied.

"So do you have another lady in your life now. I mean, are you and Rouge..."

"What? No! I severed contact with everybody three years ago. I only just met up with them all again yesterday."

"Ok sorry," Fiona replied defensively. "I wasn't trying to jump to a conclusion, I was just curious."

"You know, I'm not sure why I'm telling you half this stuff. Normally I'd only share all of this with someone I trust, and I only just met you," Connor chuckled.

"Are you saying I've got your trust? Aww I'm flattered," Fiona playfully teased. Connor couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I guess I do trust you," he chuckled.

Connor looked at the ground, his face grew serious as he looked back up at Fiona.

"Just do me a favor would you, don't betray my trust. Everyone else I know has stabbed me in the back at some point. I don't know how much more of that shit I can take," he said in a very serious tone. Fiona nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry Connor, I know how it feels. I'm not going to do that to you," she assured him.

"Then I thank you," he replied, his face softening up a little.

"Now then," Connor suddenly said. "Where's that runner we picked up earlier, I'd like to have a little chat with him."

"Joseph and a couple of others are interrogating him in the garage, I'll take you there."

Rouge had been standing a fair distance away from the two, but with her sensitive hearing she had been able to pick up every word in their conversation. She wanted to leave and get back to Mobotropolis, but she couldn't go until she'd found out what information this red hedgehog had. Begrudgingly, she followed Connor and Fiona to the garage.

Inside the building Joseph was sitting atop a metal bench. The hedgehog had been tied to a chair, a brown coyote was working him over (beating him for information).

"You know, I've always found punching someone in the face isn't the best way for gaining information," Connor said, grabbing everybody's attention.

"So you finally woke up," Joseph said back. "If you don't think we're doing this right then perhaps you would like to try."

"I might just do that," Connor replied before lighting up another smoke.

The coyote stepped out of the way and Connor knelt in front of the hedgehog. His face was cut up and bruised, he had his head slumped over looking at the ground with his eyes closed.

"Hey, time to wake up," Connor said to him, slapping his face lightly.

The hedgehog lifted his head up and looked Connor directly in the eyes.

"Now then," Connor continued. "At this point, most people would ask if you would like to do this the easy way or the hard way. I have a different take on that phrase, it can either be the peaceful way, or the painful way, your choice."

The hedgehog stared at Connor for a moment. He suddenly spat in Connors face and glared at him. Connor wiped the mixture of saliva and blood off of his face, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and held it in his hand.

"Why does everybody always have to make this difficult," Connor sighed.

He lifted his cigarette up and pressed it onto the hedgehogs cheek. The hedgehog yelled and squirmed as the hot stick burnt its way into his flesh. Connor threw the smoke away and walked behind the hedgehog to a bench against the wall, he began searching through all the tools and items on the bench.

Rouge entered the garage and stood beside Fiona as she watched what was happening.

"You're just in time," Fiona said to her. "It looks like things are about to get interesting."

Rouge had no idea what Fiona meant by that statement. She noticed Connor at the end of the room when she heard him speak.

"Would somebody please remove his shoes and socks," He calmly requested.

The coyote gave Joseph a confused look. Joseph just motioned with his hand for him to do what Connor asked. The coyote knelt in front of the hedgehog and removed his shoes as he had been asked to. Connor turned around and walked back in front of the hedgehog. In his hand he had a nail hammer. Rouge locked eyes with him for a brief moment, he had a stern look on his face. He once again knelt in front of the hedgehog.

"Right then, would you like to share anything before we start," he asked. All he received was a silent glare.

Connor raised the hammer up and brought it crashing down on top of the hedgehogs right big toe, crushing it completely. He screamed in agony and thrashed his body around, as if trying to get away from the pain.

"You can stop this at any moment. All you need to do is tell us what we want to hear, Connor told him. He replied shaking his head. "That's ok, we've still got another nine toes to go through."

Connor repeated the process for the next two toes, crushing them into a bloody mess underneath the weight of the hammer. Three toes down and the hedgehog finally gave in.

"Ok! Ok!" he cried. "I'll tell you what happened."

"Go on then," Connor replied.

"About a week ago. Me and the other guy you chased after earlier, we were spending some time in Mobotropolis. We were walking through an alleyway one night, some guy approached us. He made us a deal. He wanted us to keep tabs on Sonic the Hedgehog. Find out what he did everyday, where he went, just keep an eye on him. In return he payed us handsomely. Then one night, Sonic went for a run outside the city. We sent word to the guy, and now I haven't seen or heard from him or Sonic since."

"What did this guy look like?" Connor asked.

"I don't know man, it was dark. I couldn't see him."

"Surely you meet him after your first encounter."

"No, after that he'd always send messages to our phones. We'd receive a message with a new phone number everyday if we needed to contact him, he changed it regularly for security. The last message I got from him was the day after Sonic disappeared, it was for the location where we could find our money."

"Give me a description of him. Just something. Was he tall, short? Fat, skinny? Anything," Connor pressed.

"I don't know man, shit. I think he was tall maybe a bit chubby too."

Connor was beginning to lose interest until his next comment.

"I think I made out a crazy looking mustache."

Connor froze and looked at Rouge for a moment before directing his attention back to the hedgehog.

"Wait. Crazy looking mustache? Define 'crazy looking'."

"I could only just make it out. But it looked like it sprouted straight out from the sides of his nose."

"Overly fluffy looking? About ten centimeters long each side?" Connor interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah man, that's exactly how it seemed," he answered in a panicky voice.

Connor dropped the hammer and stood up. He looked across at Joseph.

"I've got what I need, he's all yours," he told him.

"So, um. Could somebody, you know, untie me?" the hedgehog asked nervously.

"Untie you? Why would we want to do that? You know you betrayed us when you went behind our backs! Betrayal is something I don't take lightly," Joseph almost yelled at him.

"Come on man, it was more money than I had ever seen. I couldn't let that chance slip by," he pleaded.

"You made your choice. You will deal with the consequences for your actions," Joseph replied coldly.

At this point Connor had stepped outside with Rouge beside him.

"Are you thinking of the exact same person I am," he asked her.

"If you're thinking Eggman, then you would be correct," she replied. "Sally's going to want to hear about this."

"Then you let her know," Connor answered. "It is your job to relay any new information to her you know."

Rouge shot Connor an angry glare after his last statement.

"You had better not be calling me a messenger girl Connor," she growled.

"Hey, I never said that, but that was part of the job description when you decided to join up with me. You knew I wasn't going to be the one to talk to Sally," he replied.

"I'd choose your next words very carefully if I were you Connor!" Her teeth were clenched tightly shut as she spoke.

Connor looked at her as he lit himself up another smoke. Through all the motions he continued to stare into her glare.

"You know, you can call it quits at any time if you like. I'm not going to stop you," he casually remarked.

Rouges glare softened ever so slightly.

"What happened to you Connor? You used to be a kind and caring person, everyone used to love you. Now you're... I don't even know what you are now. I know for a fact the old you wouldn't have done what you did just then."

Connor just scoffed at Rouges words and began to walk off.

"What would Sarah think of you," Rouge added.

Connor froze in his tracks. The cigarette he was holding fell from his hand and onto the ground. His body appeared to be shaking lightly. Before Rouge could react, Connor suddenly spun around and pushed her into a wall with his hands still on her shoulders.

"Don't you ever bring up Sarah like that around me! Do you hear me!" he yelled at Rouge.

"Connor, I'm sorry," she tried to quietly apologize.

"You're what? You're sorry?" Connor laughed, letting his hands fall from her shoulders while taking a few steps back. "You're sorry, that's the best you could come up with? You think you know me? Well guess what, you obviously don't know anything. The old me is gone, you should know that by now. So stop bringing up all this bullshit about how I 'used' to be."

"Connor, please," Rouge pleaded.

"You know what Rouge, just shut up already. It's funny really, nobody gives a single damn about me. As soon as you all need my help, bang, I'm everybody's best friend again. Well you know what, I'm not putting up with this anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"You know damn well what I'm saying. I'm done, find Sonic on your own. I don't want anything else to do with any of you. Go and relay THAT message to Sally."

"Connor, don't do this," She begged.

"Just piss off already Rouge," Connor replied, he turned around and started walking off. Rouge followed after him.

"Connor wait, can't we just," Rouge started to say as she grabbed Connors shoulder. He spun around with anger on his face.

"JUST FUCK OFF ALREADY ROUGE!" he roared.

Rouge took a few steps backwards. Connors sudden outburst had actually frightened her.

"Fine then, I'll leave. I'll let everybody else know, we won't bother you again," she replied sadly.

Rouge spread her wings and took off into the air, flying back to the city. Connor could have sworn he saw a tear in her eye before she left. He began to notice that his little outburst had drawn a bit of attention, most of the people around were now staring at him.

"What the hell are you all looking at?" he demanded.

Everybody immediately dropped their gaze and got back to what they were doing beforehand. Connor walked over to the shops front wall and placed his forehead against it with his eyes closed. He started swearing and banging his head against it in anger. He would have kept going if Fiona hadn't stopped him.

"Hey hey, knock it off already. I've already patched you up once today, I don't really want to have to do it again," she said, pulling him away from the wall.

Connor put his back against it and slid himself down into a sitting position.

"Well this has all gone to shit," he stated with a halfhearted chuckle.

Fiona sat herself down next to him.

"You've had it pretty rough haven't you?" she asked.

"Something along the lines of that," he replied, lighting up a smoke.

"Want to talk about?" Fiona offered.

Connor looked over at Fiona and chuckled lightly.

"As much as I've heard that talking can help, I'd rather not to be honest."

"That's fair enough."

Fiona and Connor sat in silence for a few minutes before one of them spoke up again.

"When Rouge said you never used to do stuff like that, did she mean the way you got that guy to talk. The whole hammer thing," Fiona asked.

"Yep, that's exactly what she meant. Times change though, I don't think I'm what you could call a good guy anymore. Maybe an antihero?" Connor replied.

"Antihero. Yeah that could work," Fiona laughed.

Connor let out a deep sigh.

"What's wrong?" Fiona asked.

"A lot," Connor replied. "Mostly though it's this damn tracker. I've gotta be back in city limits bynoon tomorrow. I just wish I could leave that place. Put everything behind me and start a new life."

Fiona understood how Connor was feeling. Back when she was in the freedom fighters she had felt the same way. When Scourge came along she jumped at the opportunity to start something new, it didn't turn out the way she had hoped though.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked Connor.

"Well I think I might get really drunk and then go from there," Connor replied.

A playful smirk found its way onto Fiona's face.

"Well come on then," she said, standing up.

"What?" Connor asked.

"I said come on."

Connor stood up and followed Fiona. The sun had set and everyone was now gathered around makeshift fires, eating, drinking and socializing. Fiona led him over to one of the campfires, Joseph and a few others were gathered around it. Fiona told him to wait there before making her way over to one of the cars.

"So what did you end up doing with the other guy," he asked Joseph.

"What other guy?" Joseph replied. It was obvious what he was hinting.

Fiona returned a threw a bottle to Connor. He looked at what Fiona had given him.

"Got anything stronger than beer?" he asked.

Fiona smirked and handed him another bottle. It was larger than the one she had thrown him. It was filled with a clear liquid, Connor looked at the label.

"Vodka," he read out loud.

Connor sat down in front of the fire next to Fiona and took a deep swig from the bottle.

"And it begins," he stated, getting a laugh from the red vixen.

(Eggmans Base, Location Unknown)

Sonic was sitting in his cell. Nothing in particular running through his head. He'd given up on possible escape attempts, every plan he'd come up always had some sort of flaw in it. The sound of footsteps coming down the hall caught his attention, they stopped in front of Sonics cell. Sonic directed his attention to the figure now standing outside of the bars, he couldn't quite make out who it was in the dark hallway. At first he thought it was Mephiles due to how quiet they were being.

"Are you going to say something?" Sonic asked.

"Are you going to say something?" the figure mimicked.

Sonic froze in place and stared at the figure outside of his cell. Its voice had sounded exactly like his own.

Another set of footsteps came down the hallway. Eggmans easily recognizable voice spoke out from the darkness.

"Perhaps I should introduce you two," he said. "Sonic, meet," the lights came on as he finished his sentence. "Sonic."

"What?!" Sonic shouted.

Standing outside of his cell was a complete mirror image of himself, a perfect doppleganger.

"So this is what all of those tests were about? You were making a clone of me," Sonic said to Eggman.

"Exactly right my dear boy. A clone of you could make for the perfect infiltration unit," Eggman explained.

"Ok, now I understand what most of the tests were for. But what was with the needle in the eye?"

"That was the most important part off all. That machine I used allowed me to duplicate all the memories you have inside that head of yours, and transfer the copies to another platform."

"What do you mean my memories?" Sonic asked.

"It's easy to put on a cloak and pretend to be somebody you're not, but it's all bound to fail miserably if you don't have the memories of their experiences. Now that I have that from you, your pathetic little friends won't be able to tell the difference," Eggman gloated.

"Don't worry bro, I'll tell all of your friends that you said hi," the doppleganger said, laughing after he spoke.

Eggman and Sonics clone walked off, exiting the hallway to put their plan into motion. Sonic sat in his cell dumbstruck. He couldn't believe what Eggman had managed to achieve. If this clone turned out to be as good as he talked it up to be, then Mobotropolis didn't stand a chance. Sonic just sat there, hoping and praying for some sort of miracle to happen.

**I'm not to sure what I think of this chapter. I'll let you guys reading it decide.**

**Reviews would be appreciated. I'd like to know how you think it's going.**


	6. Chapter 6: Turn for the worst

**Chapter 6**

A mother and her ten year old son were walking through a park. It was early evening and the sun was just beginning to set. The mother looked to be about thirty five years old. She had long blonde hair that grew to halfway down her back and she had blue eyes. She wore a simple grey T-shirt, red jacket, blue jeans and white shoes. She looked down at her son who was holding her hand. His hair was blonde also but cut quite short. His eyes were a strange feature, his left eye was blue but his right was red. He wore a white shirt, blue jumper, jeans and some black and white sneakers.

"Did you have fun today?" The mother asked her son.

He looked up and gave her an enthusiastic nod, he had smile on his face that only a child could grow.

"I sure did, I made lots of new friends at the playground today," he replied happily. "I wish we could do this everyday mum."

The woman smiled at him. "So do I, but you know I have to work."

"Stupid work," the boy grumbled.

"Hey now, if I don't work then where do you expect us to get our money," his mother laughed.

The boy didn't reply, instead it seemed he was thinking about something.

"Mum?" the boy asked.

"Yes son," she replied.

"How come we never travel anywhere outside the city. I'd love to go on an adventure someday."

"I'd love to go on an adventure as well, but at the moment it's dangerous around the world."

"Dangerous?"

"Yes son, there's a great war happening right as we speak. Our city has remained untouched for now, we live in safety where we are for the time being. Once you grow older and stronger, perhaps you could do some adventuring then. But until that time comes I need you to stay with me, we need to look after one another."

The boy understood what his mother had just explained to him.

"Ok, I love you mum," the boy said, hugging his mother.

"And I love you too my son," she chuckled. "Now then, how about we get home and I make you some of that spaghetti and meatballs you seem to enjoy so much."

"All right!" he shouted in excitement.

His mother could only happily laugh at her sons antics.

A two minute walk down the path later two shadowy figures stepped out in front of them, they looked rather intimidating. The mother went to turn around and walk away but another two stepped out behind them, boxing them in.

"What do you want?" the woman asked.

"What do we want? Why I don't know, what do we want boys," one of the men replied, looking around at the rest of the group.

The boy was clutching onto his mothers leg shaking in fear. His mother placed a hand on top of his head to comfort him.

"Just leave us alone!" she shouted.

She tried to push past but one of the men but he pushed her back. She knelt down next to her son and whispered into his ear.

"When I tell you to run, you run okay."

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"Just do what I say and you'll be fine ok, I love you."

"I love you too mum," there were tears falling down the boys face now.

Still holding her sons hand, she approached one of the men. Quickly as she could, she kicked him straight in the groin.

"Now! Run!" she yelled.

Doing as he was told the boy sprinted down the path as fast as he could. One of the men gave chase, screaming obscenities as he followed. The path finally opened up and gave view to the city ahead. The man chasing him gave up and turned around to run back to his group. The boy fell to his knees, crying and sobbing. He was there for ten minutes before he finally got back. Across the road he saw police officer, not looking out for the oncoming traffic he ran across the road yelling to grab her attention. The police officer was a purple rabbit in official police uniform, the sound of cars screeching and honking their horns caught her attention. She looked at the road and saw the boy running towards her.

"P-please, my mum, in the p-park, these men, just please, c-come with me," he stuttered.

"Hey wait," the rabbit shouted, but before she could stop him the boy had ran across the road again towards the park. With nothing else she could do she ran after him.

A little way down the path she found the boy frozen in place. Just ahead of him was a woman. She looked mid thirties, her clothes were torn and stretched, her throat had been deeply slit and her once blonde hair was now a dark red from the mixture of blood and dirt on the ground. The rabbit gasped and remembered the boy was standing right there. She quickly knelt down next to him and turned him away from the scene, hugging him with her left hand and holding his head against her shoulder with her right. The boy cried freely into her shoulder as she called in for backup over her radio.

"Was this your mother?" she asked.

"Y-yes," he replied.

"What's your name sweetie."

"M-my name? My name's C-Connor."

(Outside Mobotropolis, Grimms Camp)

Connors eyes shot open, unprepared for the sunlight waiting to assault them. He groaned and squinted his eyes, rubbing them with his left hand. His vision was somewhat blurry, but he could make out that he was in the back seat of a car.

"Same dream again dammit," he thought to himself.

Every time he slept he would either have no dreams at all, or he would see the death of his mother all over again. It was a memory that had haunted him his entire life. His mothers attackers always appeared as dark shadowy figures, he guessed he had somehow suppressed their faces from his memory.

Connor went to sit himself up but found himself being weighed down. He rubbed his eyes one more time to clear up his vision and checked to find what was holding him down. It didn't take him long to find that it was Fiona lying on top of him that was keeping him from moving. She was sleeping peacefully, using his chest as a pillow. The jacket to the suit Connor was wearing was now draped over Fiona as a makeshift blanket. Connor may not have wanted to wake Fiona up, but the position they were in was making him somewhat uncomfortable. He lightly gave her shoulder a shake, trying coax her out of her sleep. Her eyes slowly fluttered open as she woke.

"Comfy?" Connor asked.

"Yes I am actually. You make for a good pillow," she teased. Connor just rolled his eyes.

"Can you perhaps get off me now?"

"Hmm I suppose I could, or I could keep you stuck here for a little while longer," she replied with a smirk on her face.

"I will move you if you won't move yourself," Connor told her.

"Ok I was only kidding, no need to get worked up," she joked.

Fiona moved herself off of Connor and out of the car, Connor followed after her. Fiona handed the jacket back to him which he slipped straight on. He pulled his smokes out of his pocket a grabbed one out. Slipping it into his mouth, he lit it up.

"You only just woke up and you're already smoking," Fiona scolded.

"I smoke more than usual when I'm hungover," he explained. "I didn't do anything stupid when I was drunk last night did I?"

"Not that I can think of. At one point when I was talking to you, you did go into great detail about how much you hate Sonic and the others right now. The only other thing I can think of is when you put one of the guys into a chokehold and knocked him out."

"Well, that's not to bad then I guess. One more thing, how did you end up on top of me in the car?"

"I thought it might be funny if you woke up and freaked out," Fiona replied with a smirk.

Connor sighed and shook his head. He checked the time on his watch, it was half past ten, he had an hour and a half to get back in the city limits before his tracker activated. He walked over to his now totaled car and lightly kicked one of the tires.

"Well, this ain't going anywhere. It's a miracle we managed to drive it as far we did after the crash," he stated.

"I could give you a lift back," Fiona offered.

"I would be grateful."

"Well then lets go."

(Mobotropolis, Castle Acorn)

Sally was pacing around the halls of the castle, she was the least to say upset at the turn of events. Connor had been their best and possibly last hope at finding Sonic, and now he was gone. Rouge had explained everything to her. What had happened from when they began their search, up to Connors outburst at her. This morning Sally had put all of her duties on hold and had been ignoring all calls, she felt like she needed some alone time. She wasn't going to be alone for long however, a voice down the hall called out her name. Sally looked behind herself a saw Mina Mongoose walking towards her.

"Sally, I called you like five times this morning with no reply, what's going on?" Mina asked.

Sally let out a sigh and explained what she had heard from Rouge to Mina.

"So Connors really given up on us hasn't he," Mina said.

"Yep, everything's gone to hell," Sally replied, sitting down on a nearby bench.

Mina sat down next to her and placed on of her hands on Sally's shoulder.

"What was Connor like Mina? When you were with him. You knew him better than any of us," Sally asked.

Mina was a little surprised by this question, she replied nonetheless though.

"Well he was just regular guy. He was sweet, funny, charming, incredibly polite. One of the best people I knew really."

"Well if he was all that then why did you...you know?" Sally asked.

"I suppose it was when Sonic and I started hanging out again. You remember we used to date back in the day. Old feelings just rose back up to surface and we couldn't control them I guess," Mina answered.

"Great, so he's gone from a sweet and charming guy to someone who crushes people's toes with a hammer for information."

"Wait, he's done what?!" Mina gasped.

"You heard me Mina. He's changed so much that he's at the point of no return," Sally replied.

"You may think that Sally, but I'm not going give up hope that he might someday come back to us."

Sally stared at Mina with an unbelieving look, Mina just smiled back at her. For the rest of the morning they sat on that bench discussing whatever came to mind.

(Mobotropolis, South Side)

"You live here?!" Fiona asked, slightly shocked by the state of the apartment building. Fiona had just dropped Connor off at his home.

"It's a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in, that's all I need," Connor replied. "Thank you for the lift."

"Not a problem, perhaps we'll see each other around."

"Perhaps we will," Connor replied, stepping out of the car and closing the door.

Fiona gave Connor a wink before driving her car off down the street. Connor felt a gush of wind suddenly blow past him. He shrugged it off as being nothing and stepped into the building, walking up to his apartment. Once inside he let himself fall back first onto his bed, he spent the next few minutes staring up at ceiling. Deciding it was time to do something, he grabbed some clothes out of his wardrobe before stepping into the bathroom to have a shower. As neglected as the building looked it actually had clean running hot water, that was something that surprised Connor the first time he moved in. He stepped out of the shower and began drying himself off. He slipped on a pair of blue jeans and walked to the mirror. For some reason he stood there staring at his own face for a few minutes. Looking down he noticed his hair shaver on the floor. Picking it up, he looked at it and then at himself in the mirror.

"I suppose it is time for a haircut," he muttered to himself.

Once finished, his hair was now two centimeters long. He'd left the middle of it slightly longer however, it formed a small mohawk down his head. He walked out of the bathroom slipping on a black long sleeve shirt before sitting down on his bed. A short time later his phone began to ring. He checked the caller id, it said unknown.

"Hello," Connor answered.

"Hello Connor," the voice replied.

"Nicole? Is that you?" he asked.

"Correct."

"How did you get my number?"

"Is that a rhetorical question Connor?"

"Right. You're an all seeing all knowing supercomputer," Connor replied, realizing he'd just asked a stupid question. "Why are you calling me?"

"There has been an interesting turn of events, you should make your way to Castle Acorn as soon as possible."

Before Connor could utter another word, Nicole had disconnected the line. Connor grabbed a dark brown leather jacket from his wardrobe and put on his converse shoes.

"Let's go see what all the fuss is about then," he sighed.

(Castle Acorn)

There was a lot of activity going on at the castle, many people were running around and chatting excitedly amongst each other. Tails had just arrived at the castle gates. A few guards were positioned there guarding the entrance, reporters were standing in front of them trying to get in and yelling out questions hoping for answers. Tails was slightly shocked by the whole scene, it was never usually this crazy unless the city was under attack. He approached the gates and the guards let him past once they recognized him. The reporters went into an uproar, demanding to know why he was allowed in while they were kept out. Once inside, he found most of the gang was already there. They all seemed to be gathered around a single person, Tails could just make out a blue figure standing in front of them.

"Sonic?" Tails spoke out.

Upon hearing Tails everybody turned to face him. Their faces lit up with smiles as they moved aside so he could get a better view. Behind them was indeed Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Hey there lil bro," Sonic answered with his signature smile.

"Sonic you're back," Tails practically yelled, running up to Sonic and pulling him into a friendly hug.

"Well I see you missed me," Sonic chuckled.

"Of I course I did, you're my brother for crying out loud," he replied, releasing the hug.

"Is everybody here?" Sonic asked.

"It's looks like it," Sally answered.

"Actually Sally," Nicole piped up. Her hologram began to slowly appear until they were standing in front of the lynx wearing her usual purple robe. "There's still one more person to arrive," she finished.

"One more person? There's no one else I can think of," Sally replied in confusion.

"She's talking about me," a voice at the door answered.

Everyone turned to where the voice came from to find Connor leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette.

"I thought I told you that you couldn't smoke in here, and what are you doing here?" Sally asked.

"I got a call from Nicole, she said that there had been an interesting development. I see she wasn't lying," Connor replied, directing his attention to Sonic.

"Well well, it's been a while Connor," Sonic said with a smirk.

"It hasn't been long enough," Connor replied calmly.

"I was wondering if you were going to drag your pathetic ass out of whatever ditch you were hiding in," Sonic insulted.

"Sonic!" Sally scolded, slapping him on the arm.

Connor furrowed his brow, staring straight into the eyes of Sonic.

"Something isn't right about him," Connor thought to himself.

"Well now, I suppose we're all dying to hear where you disappeared to," he sarcastically stated. "I caught wind that Eggman had somehow managed to miraculously capture you."

Everyone's eyes darted to Sonic, waiting for him to share what had happened.

"Well this may come as a surprise but yes it's true, Eggman did manage to capture," Sonic told them.

Everybody gasped, they couldn't believe that Eggman had finally managed to do what they thought impossible.

"How is that possible Sonic? Nobody has ever managed that before," Knuckles asked.

"I'll spare you the details but I can tell you one thing, he wasn't working alone," he replied.

"Well then who was helping him?" Mina was the next to ask.

Sonics eyes looked across the room.

"Him," he said, pointing a finger at Connor.

"WHAT?!" Connor shouted.

"You heard me Connor. You had so much pent up hate that you struck a deal with Eggman to get rid of me," he accused.

"This is absolute bullshit!" Connor growled. "I may have been angry, but I wouldn't go as far as trying to get rid of someone because of it."

Connor looked around the room at everyone else, a few of them seemed skeptical but most looked like they believed Sonics accusation.

"You can't seriously be buying this horseshit?!" he yelled. He couldn't believe it, everybody was siding with Sonic and turning their backs on him yet again.

"Look Connor I'm sorry, but were going to have to arrest you and put you in holding cell until we can figure out what's actually going on," Sally explained to him.

"That is not going to happen," Connor growled.

A few guards began to make their way towards Connor, they were stopped by Espio however.

"Allow me, I still need to repay him from the last time we met," he told them.

The guards looked at him and then took a few steps back, giving him the go ahead. Espio began to approach Connor.

"I wouldn't do this if I were you," Connor said to him.

"You caught me off guard last time, it's not going to end like that this time," Espio replied.

Connor could feel the anger welling up inside of him. He was struggling to stop himself from screaming out in fury.

Espio moved at lightning speed, using his right fist to throw a punch targeted at Connors head. Connor however deflected it with his left hand and at the same time hurled his right at Espio's jaw. The force of what might have been an ordinary blow was amplified by the pure rage behind it. Connors fist connected with Espio's jaw, letting out a sickening crack. Espio fell to the ground clutching his jaw.

"Consider yourself lucky it only got dislocated this time," Connor said to him.

Connor looked up to find all the guards in the room now had their weapons aimed right at him.

"Great," he groaned.

He began looking around for an escape route. The door was to far away, he'd get taken down before he even made it there. He took notice of the window on his right, a fall from that height wouldn't kill him, but it would be enough to make him hurt for a while. Seeing no other option he made a run for the window. Leaping through it, he covered his face with his arms as the glass shattered around him. He hit the ground, hard, winding him for a brief moment before he forced himself to stand, groaning as he did so. The guards at the gate keeping the reporters at bay didn't seem to know he was now a wanted man just yet, he took it as a stroke of luck as he made his way over to them. They didn't take any notice of him as slipped by them, they did try to make a grab for him once the others came running out of the castle screaming for them to stop him however. Connor was already sprinting off down the road before they could even lay their hands on him.

Once out of the castle Connor kept on sprinting. He ran until his lungs ached, his muscles burned and his heart pumped what felt like battery acid through his veins. He knew he had to stop at some point. He made his way into an alleyway and sat down with his back against the wall, hiding himself beside a dumpster. He sat there panting and gasping for air, he felt like he was about ready to throw up.

"How did it come this?" he thought to himself. "I should have never gotten involved dammit."

Finally his breath again, he pulled out another smoke and lit it up before leaving the alley. He got back onto the sidewalk and began walking, his plan was to go home, pack some gear and go from there. It wasn't the worlds greatest plan but it would have to do. The entire walk back to his apartment he was constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed.

Once he was finally inside his apartment he pulled his duffel bag out from under his bed and got to packing. After he finished that he reached under his bed yet again and pulled out a small briefcase. Inside it was an M9 pistol, three full clips, a spare box of ammo and a couple of knives. He placed the contents of the briefcase into his duffel bag and zipped it up. He picked up the bag and went to leave, before he could walk out the he heard something. It sounded like a song. Listening carefully he realized it was the happy birthday theme, it was coming from the fridge. He opened up the fridge to find what looked like a bomb placed inside, the timer had three seconds left on it as the song kept playing. Thinking quickly he ran to bathroom, duffel bag still in hand, slamming the door behind him and jumped into the bath tub. Inside the tub he laid down with his bag on top of him right as the bomb detonated. The bathroom door was reduced to splinters and Connor could feel the heat from the explosion wash over his body.

When everything seemed to quiet down Connor gingerly made his way out of bathtub. What he saw before him mad his jaw drop. His entire apartment was now gone. All that was left of the room was bathroom he now stood in.

"Somebody has one hell of hard on for me," Connor said to himself.

He stepped over to the ledge and slowly made his way down the crater that used to be his apartment. He slung the strap to his duffel bag over his shoulder and began walking away down the street. Behind him he could hear the police and fire department arriving at the scene. He ignored them and continued walking to find himself a new place to lay low.

(Back at the apartment building)

Sally arrived at the scene with Sonic, Rouge was already there waiting for them to turn up.

"What happened here?" Sally asked.

"We're not to sure to be honest, all we know is that some sort of bomb went off in there. The entire building is about ready to collapse in on itself now," Rouge replied.

The firefighters were hard at work, trying their best to quell the raging flames that were slowly engulfing the building. The police had set up a barrier to keep any curious civilians away, they were also taking statements from anyone who had been near the building at the time of the explosion.

"You don't think Connor did this do you?" Sally asked Rouge.

"I know Connors different now, but even this seems a bit extreme for him. I mean, what reason would he have for blowing up his own home," she replied.

"I wouldn't put it past him, he did abduct me after all," Sonic cut in.

"Are you sure Sonic? Accusing him of abducting you is one thing, but this. This is a whole different thing altogether,"Sally said to him.

"I'm not accusing him of the kidnapping Sal, I know he did it."

"I can't believe I'm going to do this, but I think it might be best if I put out a city wide alert for his capture," Sally explained.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Sally, we don't how people will react. There's still some Mobians out there who are pretty racist towards Humans because of that Human, Mobian war all those hundreds of years ago. They might take it as a sign that he's a terrorist," Rouge replied in an unsure tone.

"I know it's extreme Rouge, but it may be our only way of bringing him in."

"Just as long as you know what you're doing," Rouge sighed.

Sally turned around and began to walk off. Under her breath she whispered, "I don't think anybody knows what they're doing right now."

Nobody noticed Sonic smirking at the scene in front of him. He looked quite pleased at how everything was unfolding.


	7. Chapter 7: Confrontation

**Chapter 7**

It had been a day since Connor had gone into hiding and the search was already underway. Posters had been placed up around the city with a phone number to contact if anybody saw him, there had also been a spot on the evening news explaining the accusations against him. At first Sally had thought they might be able to find him through his tracker, that idea was removed once it was explained that it would only show his location if he left the city. So far he'd been smart enough to stay within the city limits.

(Castle Acorn)

Inside her office, Sally was discussing some problems they'd been having with the computer systems with Nicole.

"So what you're saying is, important data on the city has been going missing?" Sally asked.

"Correct Sally. Data on the city's defense protocols have either disappeared or appear to have been copied," the brown furred lynx in front of her replied.

"Have we lost anything else?"

"Yes. Information on some of our more important areas, such as the city's power systems, have also disappeared."

"This is not good. Is there anyway for us to find out why we're losing this data."

"I'm sorry Sally, I have not been able to detect any internal problems with my mainframe. If somebody is stealing this information then they have gone to great lengths to hide their presence."

Sally let out a sigh and muttered, "Great, more problems."

"I will begin running search programs to try and find where the problems are originating from," Nicole explained before making her hologram disappear from the room.

There was a knock at the door, Sally beckoned her guest in and it was Bunnie who entered.

"Heya Sal," Bunnie greeted.

"Hi Bunnie," Sally replied.

"A few us are going to go for a walk around the city, I was hoping y'all might come with us," Bunnie explained.

"Thank you for the offer Bunnie but I've got some things I need to sort out here."

"Are ya sure Sal, it'd do ya good to get out for a bit."

"I'm sure Bunnie, thank you again but I've really got some things I need to do."

Bunnie gave her a nod before leaving the room. Sally let out another sigh and got to work.

(Mobotropolis, North Side)

Twenty minutes later down street Bunnie was walking with Antoine, Mina and Tails.

"It's nice that we can relax now that the whole Sonic thing is over," Tails said.

"I do not think we can be relaxing just yet, there is still one thing we need to be worrying about," Antoine stated.

"Are you talking about Connor Antoine? I don't think we need to be worried about him, he'll turn up eventually," Mina said to him.

"Come on y'all we're out here for some time off, let's not be thinking our problems," Bunnie told them all.

"Yeah you're right, let's just try and enjoy ourselves for a bit," Tails replied.

None of them paid any attention to a man they past standing on the sidewalk smoking a cigarette. He was wearing grey jeans, black boots, black gloves and a black hoodie with the hood pulled up hiding his face. Once they walked past him he flicked his smoke away and began walking behind them, keeping a good four to five meters distance.

"So why didn't Sonic want to come with us?" Mina asked.

"He said he had a few errands to run around town. He told me he'd catch up with us later though," Tails replied.

For a while no one noticed anything, however Tails began to get the distinct feeling something was up. He was first to notice they were being tailed. Keeping his voice low he spoke to the others.

"Don't look back or make any sudden moves, but I think we're being followed. The guy in the black hoodie has been behind us for the last ten minutes."

The others listened to what Tails told them and gave him an understanding nod.

"What should we do?" Mina asked.

"We could turn at the corner and see if keeps following us. If he does then we confront him," Tails replied.

Doing as Tails had suggested, they made a right turn at the corner ahead of them. They sat down on a nearby bench and waited. The man however kept walking straight ahead.

"Are ya sure we were being followed hun?" Bunnie asked.

"I'm positive. I swear I'm not being paranoid," Tails defended himself. "I don't know about you but I'm going after him," he added.

Before the others could stop him, Tails had stood up and walked off after the man.

"I suppose we should go with him and make sure nothing bad happens," Mina said.

Bunnie and Antoine agreed before they left to catch up with Tails. When they finally caught up they found Tails standing on the sidewalk, the man was up ahead standing on the corner with a smoke.

"Are you going to confront him Tails?" Antoine asked.

"I'm not sure. I haven't figured how I should do this yet," he replied.

"What's to figure out? Just walk up and talk to him," Mina said.

Tails looked at Mina, something behind her caught his eye. Two police officers were walking up the street towards them, a green bat and a brown squirrel.

"I think I just got an idea," Tails stated.

Once the cops were close enough Tails got their attention. He explained to them that the man up ahead had been acting suspiciously. They agreed to talk with the man and find out what he was up to. With the four following behind them, the two cops approached the man and spoke with him.

"Excuse me sir, we're under the impression you've performing suspicious activities. Would you mind telling us what you're up to?" the squirrel asked.

The man looked at two cops in front of him for a moment before replying.

"I was going for a walk to the park," he replied cooly.

"Really? These people behind us believe you may have been stalking them."

The man chuckled and took a long drag from his cigarette, blowing the smoke into the cops faces.

"It's not my problem if they happened to be walking the same way as me. That's no reason to be alarmed is it?"

The two officers looked at one another briefly, the bat was the next to speak.

"Sir would you please remove you're hood."

"I'd rather not," the man replied.

"Sir I'll ask you again, please remove the hood," the bat pressed.

"That's not going to happen."

The squirrel brought his hand up to pull the hood down himself.

"I wouldn't that if I were you," the man warned, flicking away his cigarette butt.

The squirrel ignored him and pulled the hood back revealing the mans face. Everyone but the two cops gasped when they saw his face.

"Connor?!" Mina shouted.

The cops instantly realized who he was, it obvious in Connors eyes that their next move would trying to arrest him.

"Everyone's gotta be fuckin hero," Connor sighed, rolling his eyes.

The bat went to make the first move, Connor spotted it coming. Connor raised his leg and booted the bat straight in the chest, knocking him off of his feet and onto the ground winding him. The squirrel pulled out a nightstick he had on his belt and took a swing at Connor. Unfortunately for him Connor caught the stick as he swung and twisted it round, in turn painfully twisting the squirrels wrist round. He lost his grip on the stick as Connor snatched it away from him, Connor brought it up and smacked it down on top of the Squirrels head knocking him out cold. Connor tossed the night stick on the ground next to him and looked ahead at the others, he was caught off guard from the next move.

Tails flew through the air kicking Connor straight in the middle of his chest, knocking him off of his feet. As soon as Connor hit the ground he rolled himself backwards back onto his feet.

"Damn Tails, you hit harder than I first thought," Connor chuckled, holding his chest.

"You've been gone a long time Connor, some things have changed," Tails replied.

Connor smirked at him, "Well this has been a nice reunion and all but I've got a few things I need to prepare, so if you'll excuse," he said.

"Now hold on a second, you know we need to bring you in, we can't let you leave," Mina stated.

Connor chuckled and smirked them again, "And what makes you think you have a choice in the matter."

Connor suddenly pulled a cylinder shaped object from his jacket pocket and dropped it at their feet. Before they knew what was happening Connor had covered his ears, closed his eyes and faced away in the opposite direction from them. The object erupted with an ear shattering bang and a blinding light. The four cringed and yelled from the effects, their ears were ringing and they were momentarily blinded.

"What was that?!" Mina shouted once the effects began to wear off.

"That Mina, was a flash bang," Tails replied.

"Well I don't think I ever want to experience that again," she said.

Tails looked around momentarily before muttering under his breath, "Dammit."

"What is wrong?" Antoine asked

"He's gone. Connor's gone," Tails replied.

A few blocks away Connor finally stopped running. He bent over with his hands on his knees breathing deeply. After he caught his breath back he stood back up and gave his head a turn, his neck let out a few cracks as he did so. A car pulled up on the road beside and he immediately took up a defensive stance. He let his guard down when he realized it was in fact Fiona in the drivers seat.

"Need a lift?" she asked.

"I don't know, my mum always told me never to get into cars with strangers," Connor joked.

"Hmm well that's to bad, I've got candy."

"Ooh candy!" Connor replied in a childishly excited manner, keeping the joke going.

Fiona giggled at his comment as he stepped into the vehicle.

"So it seems you're the new public enemy number one," Fiona said once they were on the road again.

"So it would seem," Connor replied.

"Did you do it?" Fiona then asked.

"Do you believe I did it?" Connor questioned back.

"I don't know Connor, did you?"

"That's not what I asked. Do you believe I did it?"

Fiona looked across at Connor for a moment, staring at his face for any clue she could pick up on. Looking back at the road she replied. "No."

"Well then there you go, if that's what you believe then why should it be any different."

Fiona was about to begin talking again, but before she could Connor yelled for her to stop the car. She brought the vehicle to halt and Connor jumped out. He tore a flyer off of a wall before hoping back in.

"What is it?" Fiona asked, peering over at the flyer in his hands.

The piece of paper Connor held in his hands was for a gala being held at the castle that night, part of the dress theme was masks. The flyer also said it was an invitation only event.

"How do you feel about going to a party tonight?" Connor asked.

"Sounds like fun, but how are we meant to get in exactly?" Fiona replied.

"Do you think Joseph and the gang would be willing to lend a hand? I also know a few people who could help."

A smirk came across Fiona's face, "I'll make a phone call."

**I know nothing much really happened in this chapter and I'm sorry about that, I just wanted to lengthen out this story a little bit.**

**Review if you have time, just no flames please**


	8. Chapter 8: Gate Crashers

**Chapter 8**

Connor had been hard at work with Fiona and her gang preparing for their upcoming 'event' that night. It wasn't to hard to get Joseph to agree to help, he was grateful for what Connor had done for him earlier, and with a little promised cash he was right on board.

(Castle Acorn, 8pm)

Fiona arrived at the castle by herself, she was wearing a red strapless dress that flowed down to halfway down her shins. Her mask was a simple red and black mask that covered the top half of her face. She walked up the stairs and approached a tiger standing out front of the door with a list in his hand. The tiger saw Fiona coming and looked down at his list.

"Name?" he asked.

Fiona looked at him and lifted her mask slightly so he could see her face. The tiger glanced at her face and then back down at his list.

"Welcome to the gala, Mrs Smith," he greeted.

Fiona looked around herself to check if anybody else was around before directing her attention back to the tiger.

"Has everybody arrive yet?" she asked.

"The majority of us are here already, there's only a few more we're waiting on," he replied.

"And what about Connor, is he here?"

The tiger raised one of his eyebrows at Fiona before replying.

"Is there something going on between the two of you? You do spend a lot of time worrying about him you know."

Fiona just stared at him, giving him a hint to stop this line of conversation and answer her earlier question.

"Ok, ok," he said, raising his hands defensively. "I haven't seen him so I'm not sure if he's arrived yet, one of the others might be able to help."

Fiona thanked him and made her way in. What awaited her inside practically took her breath away, the sight of the room was spectacular. The room was adorned with many a decoration, banners with the Acorn family crest were hung up along the walls, they had even placed several pot plants around the room. Waiters made their way around the room, trays of champagne and food were held steadily on top of their open hands. Fiona took a glass of champagne one of the waiters offered her and made her way around the room. She spotted a blue fox with a black tipped tail standing in front of one of the windows, staring out towards the city, part of his right ear was also missing. She walked over to him and started talking.

"So Joseph, how long ago did you get here?"

The fox turned to face her, he was wearing a black suit with a black shirt and blue tie. He was also wearing a black mask covering his entire face.

"Hello Fiona, to answer your question I got her about fifteen minutes ago," he replied.

"And how are you enjoying the party?"

Joseph looked around the room before replying.

"I've never been to anything as grand as this before. It feels strange, I don't really feel comfortable wearing a suit either," he finished with a chuckle.

"To be honest, I haven't worn anything like this for a while," Fiona replied, looking down at her dress.

Peering across the room, Fiona spotted a few people she recognized. It was easy to see Tails, a fox with two tails would never be very hard to find. Bunnie stuck out like a sore thumb with her robotic limbs. Then there was Sonic, for some reason she found him the easiest to notice out of everybody in the room. The three of them were standing together at the other end of the room, laughing about something one of them had said.

"Looks like the band's coming on now," Joseph said, pointing towards the small stage that had been constructed for the party. "That's my cue, I'll see you again shortly Fiona," he added before walking off.

Fiona wasn't entirely sure on what the plan was for tonight, she'd been briefed on a couple of things but not everything. She knew the whole operation was to get to Sonic. Connor had explained that something wasn't right about him, and that he was going to find out what.

The band took to the stage and a brown fox with a guitar approached the center mic. He was wearing a black suit with white shirt and a blood red tie, he was also wearing black gloves. He began playing his guitar to start the first song.

_Touch my mouth,_

_And hold my tongue,_

_I'll never be your chosen one,_

_I'll be home, safely tucked away,_

_Well you can't tempt me if I don't see the day,_

_The pull on my flesh was just too strong,_

_It stifled the choice and the air in my lungs,_

_Better not to breathe than to breathe a lie,_

_'Cause when I open my body, I breathe a lie,_

Sally stood by herself at one side of the room swaying to the beat of the music. Many of the other guests had also directed their attention to the band.

_I will not speak of your sin,_

_There was a way out for him,_

_The mirror shows not,_

_Your values are all shot,_

_But oh, my heart was flawed,_

_I knew my weakness,_

_So hold my hand,_

_Consign me not to darkness,_

The fox began singing in an angry sort of tone and started stamping his foot to the beat.

_So crawl on my belly til the sun goes down,_

_I'll never wear your broken crown,_

_I took the road and I fucked it all away,_

_Now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace,_

_So crawl on my belly til the sun goes down,_

_I'll never wear your broken crown,_

_I took the road and I fucked it all away,_

_Now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace_,

The rest of the band stopped playing their instruments, the fox softly sang the last of the song continuing to lightly play his guitar.

_So crawl on my belly til the sun goes down,_

_I'll never wear your broken crown,_

_I can take the road and I can fuck it all away,_

_But in this twilight, our choices seal our fate._

The crowd clapped their hands and applauded the band. They continued on with the entertainment, ranging from more upbeat style music to softer slower paced songs.

Thirty minutes later, the band left the stage for a short break. Once off the stage they went down a hallway and into the back room. Fiona saw it was her cue to move, she walked out of the main hall and followed the band into the back room.

Sally was now strolling around the room conversing with the guests, welcoming them to the gala and thanking them for coming. Once she finished with the greetings she went to find some of her friends. It was Rotor that she found first.

"Hi Sally, how are you going," Rotor greeted.

"Good Rotor, and you?" she replied.

"Great actually. This is certainly one of the better parties I've been to."

"Yes it is going well. I've got this feeling in my gut that something's going to happen though."

"Going to happen? Are you sure you're not being paranoid Sally?"

Sally chuckled at Rotors comment. "Thanks for the backup Rotor," she sarcastically replied.

Rotor laughed with her for a moment before directing his eyes to the stage.

"The bands back on," he told Sally.

Sally followed Rotors gaze towards the stage, her heart skipped a beat with what she saw. All of the band members were now each in possession of firearm. The fox who had been singing earlier walked to the front of the stage and jumped down to the floor, he had an FN P-90 in his hand. He fired a few shots into the air to grab everybody's attention.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Sally demanded, pushing her way to the front of the crowd.

The fox stared at her for moment before signaling one of the others to his side. He stepped down to the foxes side and the fox handed him his weapon. The fox reached under the front of his jacket and fumbled around briefly. There was a clicking noise and the his tail fell to ground behind him. It was attached to some kind of belt, the tail was fake. Next he grabbed his ears with either hand and pulled them outwards in opposite directions. His face began to stretch and tear as the pressure grew stronger. His prosthetic face finally tore off, he discarded it on the ground.

"I don't believe this," Sally said, slightly shocked.

Connor had made another appearance, this time in a manner nobody could have seen coming. Connor smirked at her and removed his gloves, he took his weapon back and held it pointing towards the ground.

"Did you enjoy the music," Connor chuckled.

Sally didn't reply, instead she called out for the castle guards. The guards came swarming into the room, surrounding Connor and his so called band mates.

"I hope you thought ahead," Sally smirked.

A mischievous grin grew on Connors face, confusing Sally.

"Ok you've had your fun guys, you can cut the act now," Connor spoke.

On cue all of the castle guards lowered their weapons and stepped away.

"What is this? What have you done Connor?" Sally demanded.

"We didn't kill anybody if that's what you're getting at, your actual guards are going to wake up with some very nasty headaches though," Connor replied.

Connor started walking around the room as he continued talking.

"You see, I've had a very busy day today. Just about everybody who is working here tonight is with me. From your waiters to, as you've seen, your guards. They're all on my side, so I'd strongly suggest you don't try anything."

"How did even manage this?" Sally questioned.

Connor continued strolling around the room until he came across a man with a lit cigarette in his hand.

"Are you going to finish that?" he asked the man.

The man held his cigarette out to Connor, his hand shaking as he did so. Connor took the smoke from him and made his way back over to Sally.

"Like I said, I've had a very productive day. There's quite a few people around this city who owed me some big favors. They were more than willing to help out, hence how we got in here plus the military grade weapons," Connor said, answering Sally's question.

"What do you want? Why are you doing all of this?" Sally asked him.

"What do I want? You should know what I want. I want the one person who set me up."

"Set you up? Wait, you can't seriously be talking about Sonic."

"That's not Sonic!" Connor growled.

"Hey, if you want to talk about me how about you do it to my face," a voice behind Connor said.

Connor turned himself around and saw Sonic walking towards him. He walked past Connor and stood beside Sally.

"I don't see what you're on about Connor. Are you upset that I've revealed you as the lowlife scum sucker you are," he smirked.

Connor gritted his teeth. "I'm certain the real Sonic wouldn't saying things like that, and I'm positive he wouldn't be smirking about something as serious as this."

Sonic simply scoffed at Connors reply.

"I'm guessing you aren't going to be coming with me without a fight are you?" Connor asked.

"You guessed right," Sonic replied.

"That's fine by me, otherwise I would have brought this little gift with me for nothing."

Connor gazed off behind them at the doorway he had been through earlier. Everyone else in the room followed his gaze to where he was looking. Fiona and Joseph walked through the door carrying something big together, it had a cloth over the top of it hiding it away. Fiona and Joseph where still wearing their masks to hide their identities. They placed the object on the stage and Joseph pulled the cloth off of it. It was obvious to everyone in the room that the object was a bomb, it had a timer with fifteen minutes placed on the front of it. Everybody began panicking and screaming. Connor let out a sigh and fired a few more shots from his gun into the air to quiet them all down.

"Right then Sonic, will you come with me now?" Connor asked again.

"Not a chance," he replied.

"Have it your way."

Connor looked at Fiona and gave her nod. She approached the bomb a pushed a button on the top it. It let out a beep and the timer began counting down. Everyone one started panicking again and ran for the exits. The guards blocked their way however, keeping them in the building.

"If you won't come with me then we can all wait here and watch the fireworks display," Connor said, his face showing no emotion.

Sonic held his ground, for five minutes nobody said a thing. Sally nervously squeezed his arm as she stared at Connor.

"Fine then," Sonic finally spoke. "Cuff me, tie me up, whatever you were going to do."

"I've got a different way of doing things," Connor replied.

Sonic raised an eyebrow at him. His confusion turned to shock when he felt a rag pressed tightly against his face. He squirmed and jerked against the guard as he slowly lost consciousness.

"What did you to him?!" Sally yelled.

"Chloroform, pretty simple technique really," Connor shrugged.

One of the waiters picked up Sonics now limp body and slung him over his shoulder to carry him out. As they were leaving Sally grabbed Connors arm and turned him around.

"Where are you going? What about the bomb?" She questioned.

"Oh yeah, feel free to call the bomb squad in," he replied. Clearing his throat he spoke to crowd, "May have your attention please, if anyone tries to leave the building you'll have an open fire on your hands. I've still got eyes and ears in here so I wouldn't suggest trying anything."

Sally stared coldly at Connor.

"You bastard," she said to him.

Connor gave her a kiss on the cheek before replying. "Love you too," he smirked.

Outside the building their were already cars waiting to get Connor and the others out of there. The waiter carrying Sonic threw him into the back of a van and jumped in with him. Fiona, Joseph and Connor hopped in as well. Everyone drove off in a different direction.

"Let's get back to the warehouse," Connor said to the others in the van.

Back at the castle everyone was losing control, a few people had actually fainted. Tails and Rotor were in front of the bomb trying their best to disarm it.

"I've never seen anything like this before, even Eggmans bombs aren't this complex. Connor has to have had some serious connections to get this thing done," Tails said Rotor, studying the device.

"We've got to figure something out. It's only got six minutes left," Rotor replied.

They heard hurried footsteps coming up behind them. Turning around they saw a few people wearing jackets with 'Bomb Squad' written on the front running up to them. Tails and Rotor stepped aside to allow the others access to the bomb.

"Can you disarm it?" Rotor nervously asked one of the men.

"We're going to try," he replied.

As every second and every minute ticked by the tension in the room grew increasingly. All hope felt lost when timer dropped down to fifteen seconds. One of the men stood up and turned to face Sally.

"I'm sorry princess, there's nothing we can do. We've failed," he spoke.

Sally felt her heart sink upon hearing the news. All she could do was watch as the timer slowly worked its way down. As the timer hit zero Sally could have sworn her heart stopped beating. Instead of an explosion however there was a popping noise. Streamers and pieces of paper flew out of the top of the bomb, what could be described as a clown laughing began playing out of it as well.

Sally and Tails turned to face one another, they both had disbelief all over there faces.

"You have got to be kidding me," Sally said.

(Mobotropolis, Factory district)

Of a night the factory district was completely abandoned, you could fire a gun and nobody would be around to hear it. This is precisely why Connor had chosen this area to lay low in. The van pulled up outside a small abandoned warehouse. Connor stepped our the van and walked inside the building. He came back out a few moments later carrying a briefcase. He walked to the van and handed the briefcase to Joseph.

"Here's your money, I appreciate your help tonight," he said.

"Not a problem, if you've got the money I'm more than happy to help," Joseph replied.

Connor gave him a nod and dragged Sonics body out of the van, throwing him over his shoulder. Before he could walk back into the warehouse Fiona began talking to him.

"Are you sure you don't need anymore help?" She asked.

"I'm fine thank you. Besides, I don't think you'll want to be around for this next part anyway," he replied.

Fiona reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a cell phone, tossing it to Connor.

"Press one if you need to contact me, I'm here to help."

Connor gave her a nod before turning around and walking into the warehouse.

"Time to get to work," he thought to himself.

Thirty minutes later Sonic began to wake up. He tried to move but found himself being held in place. He looked around and found he was strapped to a metal table.

"About time you woke up," he heard a voice say.

He gazed around until his eyes fell on a red dot in a dark corner of the room, he could see smoke slowly blowing outwards as well. The red dot moved and he saw Connor walking out of the darkness towards him with a cigarette in his hand.

"You're good man. I mean, really good. You managed make everyone believe your someone you're not, it probably helps that you look like him though," Connor said.

Sonic began quietly chuckling.

"So what, you've figured it all out have you? Even if you could prove it who would believe you," Sonic toyed.

"So you're admitting that you're not the real Sonic are you?" Connor asked.

"Sure why not, like I said no one's going to believe you anyway."

"I'm guessing you work for Eggman then."

Sonic smirked at Connor and gave him a nod.

"So what are you? A robot? A clone? Brainwashed?" Connor asked.

"The second one," Sonic chuckled.

"Well then, if you work for Eggman I suppose you know where his base is."

"Maybe I do maybe I don't. What makes you think I would tell you anyway?"

"What makes you think you won't tell me?" Connor replied with a smirk.

He approached the side of the table and placed his hands on it.

"I'm going to be straight up honest with you right now. Whatever happens tonight, you won't be leaving here alive. Whether it's with all of your pieces still attached or not is entirely up to you," Connor told him.

"Oh really," Sonic replied calmly.

Connor flicked his smoke away and reached into his pocket, pulling out a syringe with some sort of liquid inside of it.

"This is a little homemade concoction of mine," he explained. "I inject you with this and it's lights out, no pain. It's like falling asleep. Or there's the alternative."

He walked over to another table placed a few meters away, it had a blanket over the top of it. Connor pulled the blanket off of the table, underneath was an assortment of tools. From power drills to circular saws, even a pair of bolt cutters. Connor picked the bolt cutters up and walked back over to Sonic.

"Now then. I've got a map over on that table, I want you to point out the location of Eggmans base. You do that and I give you the needle. You refuse, well I think you know what happens. So what do you say?" Connor asked.

Sonic stared up at the ceiling for a moment before looking Connor in the eyes.

"Screw you!" he spat.

"Have it your way then," Connor sighed.

Connor raised the bolt cutters up and placed one of Sonics fingers between the blades. In one quick and fluid motion he clamped them shut, snipping Sonics finger straight off. Sonic screamed in agony as blood flowed freely out of the stump.

"And so it begins," Connor said under his breath as he placed another of Sonics fingers between the blades.

**For those of you who are wondering, the song in this is called 'Broken Crown' by Mumford and Sons.**


	9. Chapter 9: Found You

**Chapter 9**

For forty five minutes Sonic had been strapped to that table, for forty five minutes he had experienced pain he never knew existed. His entire left arm was gone, taken off a little piece at a time. His right foot had been removed with a circular saw, half of it first then the rest after. His right ear had even been taken to with a belt sander. Each wound had been crudely cauterized with a red hot iron to keep him from bleeding out. Adrenaline was pumped into his system from time to time to stop him fainting. Connor picked up the bolt cutters for a second time and walked over to Sonics right side, placing his thumb in between the blades.

"Have you changed your mind at all yet?" he asked.

Sonic didn't reply, instead he just stared up at the ceiling.

"Have it your way then."

He clamped the blades together cutting the thumb straight off, receiving an ear shattering scream from Sonic.

"Shit! I can't do this anymore. I'll tell you where the base is," he sobbed.

Connor dropped the bolt cutters on the ground and retrieved the map from the bench. He removed the shackles that restrained Sonic on the table and held the map out to him. Sonic raised a shaky hand a pointed Eggmans location out on the map.

"Right in the middle of the forest huh? I'm surprised nobody has randomly stumbled across it," Connor remarked, using a red marker to circle the location. "Now then, as promised," he added, pulling the syringe from his pocket.

He pushed the needle into the vein in Sonics arm and inject the deathly liquid into his body.

"How long will this stuff take?" Sonic asked.

"Not long at all," was the reply.

Sonic felt all the pain from earlier disappear as his body began to grow numb. He felt a slight chill run down his spine, his vision became blurry. The last thing he saw as he faded into the darkness was Connors content face.

Once Sonics body fell motionless Connor began feeling around for a pulse or a heartbeat. Finding none, he covered the body with a plastic sheet.

"It probably doesn't seem like it, but I'm sorry I had to put you through that," he said to the body under the sheet.

Connor walked away from the table and picked up a duffel bag placed next to the wall. He began packing them with the equipment he had been collecting earlier. Next thing he did was change his clothing, he was still wearing the suit he'd worn to the gala, minus the jacket. The dress shirt that had once been a clean white was now stained crimson red. He slipped on a pair a jeans, a black long sleeve shirt, his dark brown leather jacket and some black boots. Once he was satisfied he'd gathered everything he'd need he pulled out the phone Fiona had given him and pushed one of the buttons. The phone rang three times.

"What do you need?" Fiona's voice on the other end answered.

"Meet me back at the warehouse, I'll explain the rest then," Connor replied before hanging up.

Fifteen minutes later Fiona pulled up outside the building and walked in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the table with sheet over it, blood covered the floor below.

"Did you..?" she started.

"It wasn't the real Sonic anyway," Connor cut in.

"So what did you need from me?" Fiona asked, diverting her attention to Connor.

Connor pulled out the map, showing her the location of Eggmans base. He gave her a brief rundown of the plan, it involved getting Sonic out of there and bringing the place to the ground.

"That's a lot of work for just two people," Fiona remarked.

"Who said anything about it just being the two of us?" Connor replied.

"What do you mean?"

Connor looked down at his leg where the tracker was strapped on.

"For once, I think this thing may actually work in my favor," he smirked.

(Castle Acorn)

Sally was sitting in a seat in the main hall with her head in her hands. Everyone had now left and the room was empty save for the now located castle guards. They'd been found unconscious in one of the castles storage rooms, they had been tranquilized, stripped of their uniforms and equipment and hidden away in the room earlier. Sally let out a deep sigh, she couldn't believe everything that had just happened. First it appeared Connor was trying to kill them, then it turned out he was playing them, she wasn't sure if he had gone insane. To top it all off Sonic was gone, again. It was what Connor had said that truly puzzled her, 'that's not Sonic', what did he mean by that. Sally was pulled out of her thoughts as Rouge came sprinting into the room with Shadow of all people behind her.

"Sally! You're not going to believe this!" Rouge practically shouted.

"What? What's going on?" Sally asked.

"It's Connor, or it's his tracker really. It's activated, he's left the city limits. We'll be able to track him down now."

"When did he leave?"

"About half an hour ago."

"And you're only telling me this now?."

"We thought it was a bug at first. We didn't think Connor would actually leave the city."

"I think Connor wants us to know where he is," Shadow cut in. "If he's going to willingly reveal his location, he must be wanting us to follow him."

"Follow him where though?" Sally asked no one in particular.

"We won't know unless we go after him," Rouge answered.

Sally sat in her seat pondering over everything for a moment. After all that had happened she knew he wouldn't let them find him unless there was a reason, just what reason was what she couldn't figure out. Sally lifted herself out of the chair and stood in front of the two before her.

"Let's get everybody else and let them know, I think they'll want to be along for the ride," she said.

Rouge and Shadow both gave her a nod before walking back out the door.

"Just what are you up to now?" Sally thought to herself.

Twenty minutes later everybody else had finally arrived.

"So we seriously know where he is now?" Mina asked.

"Yes and we need to move now to catch up with him," Sally replied.

"Then shouldn't we be, as you say, doing it to it," Antoine added.

"Right. Now I don't want an army coming along so to speak. No cops and no G.U.N, we're going after him ourselves," Sally explained.

"Are ya sure Sal? We don't know what to expect after everything that's happened. This could be a trap for all we know," Bunnie asked in a worried tone.

"I'm sure Bunnie. We need to move now, we're wasting time here."

With that, everyone made their way out of the castle and into the vehicles that had been supplied for the trip.

"Are you sure you want to come along for this? I mean no offense, but you're not exactly a fighter and we don't know what we're walking into," Sally asked Mina in the car.

"I'm sure Sally. Sonic could be in danger and he's always been there for us, it's time we return the favor and be there for him," she replied. Sally gave her a simple understanding nod in response.

They drove for an hour before having to get out and walk due to the trees becoming to thick to get a car through. Everybody noted that this was a place in the forest not many people tended to venture into.

"We're getting close, his signal is coming from just up ahead," Rouge stated fifteen minutes later. She had a small GPS like device in her hand.

"Well well well, I wasn't sure if you guys were actually going to turn up," they heard a voice say.

"Who's there?" Tails demanded.

They heard a chuckle and Fiona Fox walked out from behind tree, presenting herself to the group.

"I never knew you were a take charge kind of guy Tails, I think I kind of like it," Fiona playfully teased with a wink at him.

Tails froze up momentarily, he wasn't sure if that was meant to be a compliment or not. He gave his head a quick shake, regaining his senses.

"Where is he?" Tails asked in a demanding tone again.

"Where is who?" Fiona questioned back.

"Don't play dumb Fiona, where is he?" Tails asked again, beginning to get aggravated.

Fiona simply chuckled at him. "You're so cute when you're angry," she teased again.

Tails was about about ready to launch himself at the vixen. Before he could, a knife dropped out of the trees sticking into the ground at his feet. Tails took a step back in surprise. It was followed by a rustling of branches and a figure landing on the ground in front of it. The figure picked up the knife and stood up in front of the group, smoking a cigarette. It was obviously Connor

"Was that entrance any good? I wasn't sure if I should have gone for something more dramatic," Connor joked.

Before they could reply, he turned around and walked towards Fiona.

"Are you gonna stop screwing with the little guys mind, or is that sort of your thing?" Connor asked her with a smirk.

"Oh you know how I am," she smirked back.

Once he was standing next to her, Fiona gave him a kiss on the cheek. Connor raised an eyebrow at her while she just grinned back at him.

"Hey, if you two are done, we want answers," Sally cut in.

"And what answers might they be?" Connor asked.

"Enough with the games, where is he?!"

"And whom might 'he' be?"

"I've had enough of zis!" everyone heard Antoine shout behind them.

Before his friends could stop him he was running straight towards Connor, sword drawn ready to attack. Connor gave his knife a flick so he had backwards in a reverse hold and stepped towards the attacker. Antoine swung his sword downwards in a vertical slash, Connor raised his knife up to meet Antoine's attack. His sword deflected off the side of the knife and dug deep down into the earth bellow. Before Antoine had time to pull his sword from the ground, Connor grabbed the back of his collar and heaved him back to towards the group. Antoine hit the ground and rolled a few times before stopping at Bunnies feet. He looked up to see Connor pulling his sword from the ground and looking it over. He turned to face him.

"I'll give this back to you if I can trust you not to charge at me again," Connor offered.

Antoine said nothing as he lifted himself out of the dirt and dusted himself off. He held his hand out, signaling he accepted the offer. Connor tossed the sword to him, he caught it by the hilt before resheathing it.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but for fuck sake Connor what are you up to?!" Sally growled.

Shock plastered the faces of everyone around her.

"Holy hell, making Sally Acorn swear? That's gotta be some kind of accomplishment somewhere," Connor stated. Sally glared angrily at him. "Alright alright," he added, holding his hands up defensively. "All you have to do is look beyond what the eye can see."

Connor began slowly walking backwards. After about ten steps he just simply vanished. Everyone gawked at the scene, everyone but Fiona who was laughing at their reactions.

"I know right, it surprised the hell out of me too," she laughed.

Shadow was the first to walk forwards. He followed Connors footsteps until he also vanished from sight.

"What are you all waiting for? Let's go," Fiona said to others, following Shadow and Connor.

"Well, it doesn't look like there's anything else we can do," Rotor stated.

One by one they followed the others, pulling off the same disappearing act. They walked through what could be described as some sort of barrier, emerging into a clearing on the other side. Ahead of them in all it's glory sat a metal fortress, it wasn't hard to figure out who the base belonged to.

"Oh my stars," Bunnie gasped.

"Sooo. Does anybody want to drag me back to Mobotropolis and throw me in a cell, or do you want get your proof that I've been right this whole time?" Connor asked them, they couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny.

"What was that back there? Some kind of cloaking shield?" Tails asked.

"That's about the best explanation I can come up with. All I've found is that the generators are disguised as trees," Connor replied, pointing at a nearby tree.

Tails walked over to the directed tree and began inspecting it. A square had been chopped out of the front of it, within the tree Tails could see circuits and wiring littered all around the inside. He turned back around as Sally began talking again.

"Ok Connor you got us here, now can you tell us what's going on?" she asked.

Connor took a long drag on his cigarette and looked Sally in the eyes.

"First things first, did anyone bring the key for this thing?" Connor asked, giving his leg a shake.

Everyone looked around at one another, unsure how to reply.

"Actually I do have the key to it, I've had it since the first day I hired you for the investigation," Sally replied.

"Well then, if you get this thing off me I'll be more than happy to share."

Sally stood her ground for a brief moment. She approached Connor and knelt down in front of him, unlocking the tracker and removing it from his leg.

"Ahhh much better," Connor said in a relieved tone.

"Would you care to share with us now?" Sally asked, she was getting impatient.

"I guess I could," Connor started. "I suppose you remember when I said that wasn't Sonic back at the castle," Sally gave him a nod. "Well it turns out I know your friends better than you do. He was a fake, a clone."

"Wait, a clone?!" Amy asked, completely shocked.

"You heard me."

"So was this fake Sonic the one stealing the city data? Nicole couldn't locate the problem," Sally asked.

"Actually Sally," Nicole piped up. Sally had downloaded her to the handheld device before leaving. "I knew for quite some time. I simply did not alert you due to the request of Connor."

"Wait, what?! You knew all along, AND you were in league with Connor," Sally exclaimed.

"You hit it right on the money Sal," Connor answered.

"But how did he manage it?"

"Sonic was placing small transponders at key locations around the city. Eggman would then use the connection from them to hack into some of the citys main data files. They were almost untraceable. As we all know however, Nicole isn't your ordinary run of the mill AI. She located the transponders, gave me their locations and then I destroyed them."

"You managed all of that in a day?" Mina asked.

"Have you already forgotten just how good Nicole is?" Connor smirked.

"Thank you for the compliment," Nicole said to Connor.

"Ok so that's out of the way, now what's the plan here?" Sally asked.

"Right then, now. If you haven't figured it out already, the real Sonic is in there," Connor replied, pointing towards the metal base. "Obviously you all want to get him out, I don't know about the rest of you but I also want to bring this place crashing to the ground."

"So that's your plan? Rescue Sonic and blow the place up?" Sally asked, a disapproving tone dripped from the sentence.

"Do you have any other plan you'd like to share with us Sally? I'm working with improvisation here," Connor snapped back.

"Fine," Sally sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

"Hold on a sec," Connor stopped her. "You're gonna need some gear," he explained, pulling his duffel bag out from behind a tree.

He zipped it open and tossed an item out of it to Sally. She caught it and looked at the item in her hands, it looked like some sort of pistol with a few blue lights running down the butt of the device.

"You know us freedom fighters don't use guns Connor," she explained angrily.

"Well that would only be a problem of it were in fact a proper gun," Connor replied.

"What is it then?" Tails asked.

"It is a gun, but it doesn't fire your standard bullets. It releases concentrated beams of EMP energy twenty meters in whichever direction it's fired, perfect for an attack against Eggmans robots wouldn't you say? It can release nine shots and you'll then have to wait six seconds for it to cool down, it builds up heat after every shot. The beams aren't visible to the naked eye, so don't go looking for the light show."

"Where did you get these?" Rotor asked.

"What do you think I've been doing for the last three years? Sitting around twiddling my thumbs? No. I'm not a scientist, but I still had enough spare time to help a few guys whip these things together."

"Ok, so what else do you have?" Knuckles was next to ask.

"I've got these," Connor replied, pulling a few radios out of the bag.

Connor walked over to Shadow and Sally and handed them each one of the radios while keeping one for himself. Once everyone felt like they were prepared they got ready to head into the base. Almost everyone was now carrying one of Connors EMP guns. The ones who weren't were Shadow, Bunnie, Knuckles, Amy and Connor himself. Connor had brought along his P-90 from earlier and his usual M9.

"Shall we?" Connor asked Sally.

"Let's go get Sonic back," she replied.

**Sorry about taking so long to update, I've been a little busy with other things.**

**Not long left now, possibly only one chapter left to go**


	10. Chapter 10: Bringing Down The House

**Chapter 10**

"I still don't think barging in through the front door is very good plan," Sally muttered.

"Ok look, if you've got a better plan that doesn't involve a few days planning then I'm open to suggestions," Connor snapped back.

Sally mumbled something under her breath as they made their way towards the entrance. There was no door, it was just a big opening at the front of the base.

"I suppose Eggman thought no one would ever find his base, that would explain why there's no hi tech security door or anything," Tails pointed out.

"I hope you guys are ready, we've got no idea what to expect once we're inside," Connor told the others.

As they walked inside a small smirk made its way onto Antoine's face. Bunnie was the only one to notice it.

"What are y'all smilin about Antoine?" she asked.

"Zis is being just like old times don't you think?" he replied.

Bunnie couldn't help but chuckle lightly at his statement.

"Ah suppose it does bring back a few memories."

They wandered down the steel hallways, not to sure where they were going but determined to the finish the job they started. A metal door suddenly came rushing down, blocking their path forwards. A holographic screen lit up as Eggmans face appeared in front of them.

"Did you really think you could just waltz right into my base without me knowing?" Eggman chuckled.

"It was worth a shot," Knuckles replied.

"Oh really. Now then, I suppose you're all wondering why I haven't destroyed you at this point."

"Actually, I'm wondering why my boot isn't up your ass at this point," Connor answered calmly, lighting up a cigarette.

"Oh I'm quivering in fear," Eggman sarcastically said. "I'll tell you what, I'm going to let you move ahead now, but only because I want to see how long it will take for you to all perish."

"Bring it on Eggman. You've never won before and we all know that isn't going to change anytime soon," Tails confidently replied.

"We shall see," and with that the screen disappeared and the door rose up.

"We should move quickly, we're probably going to be up to our asses in Swatbots any minute now," Connor told the others.

"For a guy with extremely high I.Q. he sure makes some dumb choices," Knuckles said, referring to Eggman letting them in so easily.

The group wasted no time, they began sprinting down the hallway. As they ran past a hallway connected to the one they were in they were immediately assaulted by laser fire.

"Shit!" Connor shouted, diving straight ahead to get behind the wall for cover.

There were about eight Swatbots firing mercilessly in their direction. Connor leaned around the corner and fired a few shots from his own weapon. He managed to pop one of them in the head. The Swatbot crumpled to floor as it shut down from the damage.

"Now would be really good time to test those things out guys!" he shouted to others, moving himself back behind his cover out of harms way.

Sally fired her weapon at the bots, the gun made a soft beeping noise as the trigger was pulled. One of the shots hit a bot directly in the chest, it twitched and shook for a moment before falling to the ground next to the other.

"Ok, I'm impressed," Sally said, looking at the weapon.

"I can't take all credit, I only helped make the damn thing," Connor explained.

As the firefight continued Knuckles and Shadow darted around the corner and ran straight at the bots, ignoring their own safety. Knuckles slid across the ground to avoid the lasers flying over his head. He propelled himself upwards when he neared one of the Swatbots and hit it with a powerful uppercut. The Swatbots head came flying off as it flew through the air a few meters backwards, hitting the ground with a loud smash. One of the Swatbots went to take a swipe at Shadow, he teleported himself behind it and kicked it in the back knocking it to the ground. Before it had chance to stand up Shadow brought his foot down on top of its head, crushing it underneath his boot. After another two minutes, the Swatbots had been dispatched.

"We should head down this way, those Swatbots must have been trying to guard something if they were in this particular hallway," Tails explained, motioning towards the path with the now destroyed bots.

"Perhaps we should split up, we'll be able to cover more ground that way," Rouge suggested.

"Good idea, we've just got to decide who's going where," Connor answered.

In the end Connor, Shadow, Rouge and Fiona continued down the original path while the others went down the hallway with the busted Swatbots.

(With Sally & Co)

"I hope we find Sonic soon so we can get out of here, I hate being in Eggmans bases," Tails said.

"Heh, you and me both," Knuckles replied.

They continued walking down their path as they searched for Sonic. They came across two Swatbots patrolling the hallway, before anyone could react Amy quite quickly dispatched them with her hammer.

"Geez Amy, save some for the rest of us," Knuckles joked.

"Nobody comes between me and my Sonic," she huffed.

Tails let out a sigh as he rubbed his forehead. Continuing down their path they came across another two hallways connected to one they were in.

"Which way should we go? Left, right or straight ahead," Bunnie asked.

"We go right. I don't know why, but I've got a gut feeling that's the way we should be heading," Sally answered.

Doing as Sally suggested they made a right turn. Two minutes later down the hall they came across yet another two Swatbots, they were guarding a door this time. Antoine rushed forward towards them. Drawing his sword he threw it straight at one of the Swatbots, the sword easily cut through its metal armor and stuck into its chest. The bot stumbled backwards and feel onto the floor. Antoine approached the Swatbot and pulled his sword from its chest. He then raised it above him and brought it down on the bot, stabbing it straight through the head. The other Swatbot turned to face Antoine and raised its arm above its head, it brought its arm downwards attempting to crush the coyote. Before it made contact, Bunnie stepped in and caught it with her own robotic limb. She gave it a yank towards herself and tore the Swatbots arm clean off. She threw the limb away and punched the bot in the chest, her metal arm pierced the Swatbots chest. She retracted her arm from its chest, pulling out a handful of wires with it. The Swatbot stood there for a moment before tumbling to the floor on its back.

"Good work guys," Mina praised them.

Antoine and Bunnie looked at one another. Bunnie smiled at Antoine, he turned his head away to hide a blush forming on his face.

"Sally, I strongly recommend checking the contents of this particular room. Those Swatbots appeared to have been guarding something," Nicole's voice pipped up.

"Ok Nicole," Sally replied, turning to face the door. "There's a key pad on the side here, we must need a password to get in. Nicole, do you think you can hack this door?"

"I will do my best."

Sally connected Nicole to the door to allow her to get to work. They only had to wait twenty seconds before the keypad let out a beep and the door raised up, allowing them entry.

"Good job Nicole," Sally said.

Inside the room were rows of what appeared to be jail cells. Many of the cells were empty, none them could find anything until Tails looked in one of the cells at the end of the room.

"Guys! Get over here, quick!" He called out excitedly.

"What is it Tails?" Amy asked as they all rushed over.

They heard Sally gasp as she peered in. Inside the cell was Sonic, lying face down on the floor next to wall.

(With Connor & Co)

The group had just finished dealing with another squad of Swatbots, it was the fourth time they had been attacked since they split up from the others.

"Do you think the others are having as much trouble as we are?" Connor asked, pulling his knife from the head of a Swatbot. He tossed his FN P-90 away off to the side, it was out of ammo.

"As much trouble, I don't know. As much fun, probably not," Fiona smirked.

"It's always fun when you're around," Connor smirked back.

"Can we please save the flirting for later, we've got a job to do," Rouge remarked.

"You need to learn to lighten up," Fiona said.

"And you need to learn to act a little more seriously. It's like I said, we've got a job to do," Rouge angrily replied.

"Ok ok ladies you're both pretty, now let's just move along shall we," Connor cut in, hoping to stop the argument before it started.

Shadow rolled his eyes and walked on ahead. The others ran to catch up with him. A little ways ahead, they found themselves in the same sort of crossroad Sally and the others had.

"Sooo, which way should we go?" Fiona asked.

Without saying anything, Shadow walked off down the hallway to the right.

"I guess we're going right," Connor said to the others.

The hallway came to an end, in front of them was a large metal door. Connor approached it and banged his fist on it twice, checking the density of the metal.

"I don't think a simple Chaos Spear from Shadow will get us through there," he stated.

"Looks like it's password activated," Rouge explained, pointing to a keypad on the wall next to it.

"Ok next question, does anyone actually know the password?" Fiona asked, already knowing the answer.

"I might have one," Connor replied.

He approached the keypad and pulled out his knife. He worked the tip of the blade under one of the edges of the keypad and started to jostle the knife. The keypad slowly began to move outwards. Once it was out far enough Connor used his hands to pull it out completely, leaving a hole in the wall. He put his hand in the hole and reached upwards, fumbling around for a moment before jerking it back out. He had a few wires gripped in his fist. The door let out a soft hiss and began raising upwards, allowing them into the room.

"How did you know that would work?" Rouge asked.

"I didn't," Connor casually replied, walking past her and entering the room.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you," Fiona said to him. Connor chuckled in response.

They entered the room not sure to expect, what sat in the middle of the room caught their direct attention.

"Is that a reactor?" Fiona asked, staring the large structure in the middle of the room as she entered

"Yes, it appears we've found the main reactor to Eggmans base," Shadow answered.

"Which is good thing too, we'll be able to blow this place sky high now," Connor added.

"And just how are we supposed to do that?" Rouge asked.

"I thought you were the G.U.N. agent here Rouge, you should know how to do that," he replied.

Connor reached into his pocket inside his jacket and pulled out a small black case. He undid the zipper that went around the side of it and opened it up. Inside were four disk shaped objects, they each had a small rectangular screen on the front of them.

"Those are bombs aren't they?" Fiona asked. Connor gave her a nod.

"When these things go off they'll overload the main reactor, that'll send the base into a self destruct sequence, and I think you know what happens after that," he explained.

"Sounds good, we'd better find out where Sally and the others are at before you plant those things though," Rouge said.

As if on cue, Connors radio came to life.

"Connor? Connor can you hear me, it's Sally," she said.

"I'm here Sally, what have you got?" Connor replied.

"We've found Sonic. We've just got to get him out of this cell and then we can get the heck of here."

"How long will that take you?"

"It shouldn't take to long at all. Why?"

"I'm ready send this place up in flames. Get Sonic and let me know when you're ready, we'll have twenty minutes to get out of here once I set the charges."

"Ok. Wait, Charges?!"

"Just be ready!" he answered harshly, shoving the radio back into his pocket.

"I hope this all works out," Fiona said.

"Don't jinx us," Connor sighed.

(Sally & Co)

Sally placed the radio back in her vest pocket and turned to the others.

"I think we should hurry," she said.

"Then let's get Sonic out of-" Tails started.

Before he could finish his sentence there was a loud crashing sound behind him. Everyone directed their attention to the cell to find Amy had knocked the door straight off it's hinges with her hammer. The noise caught Sonics attention. He tiredly turned his head to see who it was before slowly getting to his feet, pain was written all over his face.

"Oh Sonic! Don't worry, I'm here!" Amy cried, rushing towards him.

She ran up to him and pulled him into one of her death hugs. Sonic let out a scream of agony causing Amy to jump back in shock. He stumbled backwards until he was resting his back against the wall, clutching his chest as well as his left arm.

"Suga hog, what's wrong?" Bunnie asked in a worried tone.

"I think my left arms broken, a few ribs as well," he replied, his voice was weak and raspy.

"Can you walk?" Sally asked with concern.

"I can walk, just not very quickly," he answered.

Knuckles approached him, he slung Sonics right arm around the back of his neck and helped him move.

"We haven't got time for you to be slow Sonic, you're supposed to be the fast one here anyway," he said.

"Shut up Knucklehead," Sonic murmured.

Knuckles helped him out of the cell and gave Sally a nod.

"I'll give Connor the go ahead, now let's get out of this hellhole," she said pulling out her radio.

"Connor we're heading out, set those charges of yours and meet us back where we split up," she spoke into the radio.

"Copy that Sally," came the reply.

(With Connor & Co)

Connor was busy setting the charges on the reactor. He stuck the last one in place and pushed a button on it, the charges let out a synchronized beep and began counting down. He checked his watch in order to keep track of the time they had.

"I think it's time we do the Russian waltz," he told the others.

"The Russian waltz?" Rouge said in confusion.

"The Fuckoffski," Connor replied with a smirk.

Rouge heard Fiona laugh behind her, she turned around giving her a scowl. Shadow led the group as they left the room.

"So far so good," Fiona stated.

"What did I say about the jinxing," Connor groaned.

They got to the end of the hallway and turned the corner, they dived back behind the corner as lasers began flying at them from another three Swatbots.

"This is exactly what I was talking about!" Connor shouted over the laser fire in an annoyed tone.

Connor retrieved a grenade from his pocket and pulled the pin, rolling it down the hall towards the Swatbots. The grenade exploded taking out all three bots in one move. The four of them ran around the corner and began sprinting back to the meeting point. The others were already waiting for them by the time they got there.

"Jesus Sonic, you look like shit," Connor remarked upon seeing his condition.

"What the? Connor? Is that you?" Sonic asked.

"That it is. I think we should save the reunions for later though, we should really be leaving," he replied.

As everyone turned to leave another steel door came crashing down in front of them, blocking off their only means of escape. Eggmans face appeared on another holographic screen.

"You really didn't think it was going to be that easy did you?" he scoffed. "You may have ruined my plans and destroyed my base, but you've given me the perfect opportunity to rid myself of you pests once and for all. I wouldn't even attempt to break through that door, it's to thick for any one of you get through. Goodbye, for the final time," he finished, laughing maniacally as the screen cut out.

"What are we going to do?" Mina asked in a worried tone, turning to face everyone.

Sally looked over everyone in the group before her eyes fell on Shadow.

"Shadow, do you think you'd be able to Chaos Control all of us out of here?" she asked.

Shadow stood staring at her with his arms crossed in front of him for a moment before replying.

"No. There's something here that's hindering my Chaos abilities, it's only possible for me to perform small tasks with my power," he said angrily.

Everybody's hearts sunk upon hearing the news. They were completely out of ideas and they were running very short on time. Connor looked at the faces of everybody around him before glancing down the hallway behind him. An idea sprang into his mind.

"Sonic, do you know where Eggmans main office is?" he asked.

"Follow the hallway behind you, take the second right then the first left and just keep going, I'm pretty sure that's the way there. Why do you want to know this anyway?" Sonic answered.

"Eggman must have the door controls in his office. If I could get up there I'd be able to raise the doors so we can get out of here."

"Would you be able to get out in time though?" Rouge asked.

"We've still got fifteen minutes, that should leave me enough time to make it out," he replied, looking at his watch.

"Just try your best to get out," Fiona said to him.

Connor looked at the ground and chuckled, he raised his head and looked at the others in front of him.

"It's not like I have anything to come back to even if I do," he said.

Connor turned around and started to walk down the hall.

"Screw it," Fiona thought to herself.

She ran up to Connor and grabbed his wrist, spinning him around. Once he was facing her she moved her face towards his and connected her own lips against his. Connors eyes widened in shock for a moment, he eventually closed them and embraced the kiss. Time seemed like it froze around him as the kiss lengthened. All of his worries and problems felt like they left his mind, he felt pure for the very first time. As always, all good things had to come to an end. They separated from the kiss and stared into one another's eyes.

"Now you have something to come back to," Fiona quietly said to him.

"I guess I do," he replied, a small smile forming on his face.

Without another word, he turned back around and ran down the hall. Fiona turned around to find everyone staring at her.

"What are you all looking at?" she said to them.

All eyes immediately darted away from her. She sighed and rested her back against the wall.

"Please to try to come back in piece," she whispered so nobody could hear her.

(With Connor)

"And first left," Connor said out loud, turning the corner.

He found himself standing in front of an elevator. He stepped inside and pushed the button to take him up to the top floor.

"Is it a rule or something for the evil mastermind to always be on the top floor," he chuckled.

It took a minute and half for the elevator to reach it's destination, Connor muttered something about it being strange that Eggman had rather slow elevators. He stepped out of the lift, instantly deciding that he was indeed in Eggmans main office. The room had computers and buttons all along the walls, blueprint sheets were stretched out across several tables. At the end of the room sat a wooden desk with a rather large chair behind it. Just beyond the chair and desk was a large screen embedded into the wall, switches and buttons stretching along the bottom of it. The only thing missing was Eggman himself. Connor made his way straight over to the main screen, scanning over the switches bellow it. He pressed one of the switches, causing the screen to light up with video feeds over the entire base. After pushing a few more buttons he witnessed all of the doors opening up.

"That's it Connor you got it, we'll meet you outside," he heard Sally over the radio.

"See you out there," he replied.

He turned around only to find a very angry looking black hedgehog standing in front of him. He grabbed the front of Connors jacket and threw him straight over the desk. Connor hit the ground hard, coughing a little as he stood up.

"I was wondering what you were up to these days Mephiles," he said once he was on his feet. Mephiles didn't reply.

"What's wrong? Did I upset you somehow?" Connor taunted.

Mephiles chuckled and stared coldly at Connor.

"I may have lost Sonic, but I suppose killing you might just make up for it," he growled.

"That sounds like shit time. By the way, where's egghead?" Connor asked.

Mephiles scoffed before replying. "That pathetic coward left as soon as he locked you and your friends in here."

Before Connor could retort, Mephiles charged straight towards him. Connor followed suit with charge. He dropped to his knees and slid under what could have been a very painful clothesline from the hedgehog. Connor got to his feet and spun around, drawing his pistol as he did so. He only managed to fire off two shots as Mephiles snatched it away, crushing it in his hand.

"Well, that sucks," Connor remarked.

He pulled his knife out and took a swipe at the hedgehog. Mephiles dodged the first swipe and caught Connors hand as he went for the second, twisting the hand around. Connor let out a cry of pain and dropped the knife. Mephiles grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. He slammed him down on top of the desk, shattering it into splinters in the process. Connor slowly got himself back onto his feet, he was shaky from the impact. Mephiles threw a punch, aiming for his head. He managed to catch the fist before throwing a punch of his own. His fist connected with Mephiles nose, he held his nose as he stumbled back a few paces. He dropped his hand down to his side and began chuckling.

"Perhaps this could prove to be more entertaining than I first presumed," he said, still chuckling.

Connor stared at him with a serious expression. He looked down at his watch, seven minutes left until detonation.

"However, I think I'd rather end this now," he heard Mephiles add.

Connor looked up just in time to see Mephiles charging up some form of dark energy. Throwing his arms forwards, the energy was propelled straight towards him. Connor raised his arms up covering his face, as if trying to shield himself fromthe dark energy as it engulfed him. Mephiles chuckled at the scene, enjoying the moment of destruction. He couldn't believe what he saw as the dust cleared from the sudden impact. Connor stood in the exact same position, arms still covering his face. There was a slight green aura glowing off of him.

"How is this possible!?" Mephiles demanded.

Connor lowered his arms and began dusting himself off. He chuckled a little and reached into his pocket.

"Shadow's going to be pissed when he finds out," he said, pulling out the green Chaos Emerald.

Mephiles stared at the emerald, a scowl forming on his face. He looked back at Connor.

"So you can control the power of the emeralds," he calmly said, crossing his arms.

"To a degree, obviously nothing like Sonic or Shadow," came the reply.

"No matter. No amount of power can save you from the inevitable," he stated. With that, he charged head on straight towards Connor.

(Outside)

Sally and the others stood on the outskirts of the base at forest edge, staring intently at the base before them. Sonic was laid down on the ground, Fiona knelt next to him tending to his injuries as best she could.

"Something's wrong. Shouldn't Connor be out by now?" Fiona asked as she stood up.

Sally turned her head to look at her before diverting her gaze back towards the base.

"I don't know Fiona. Eggman would have already left by now, that couldn't be what's keeping him," Sally said.

Sonic suddenly shot up into a sitting position in realization, groaning as he did so.

"Mephiles! Mephiles was with Eggman, he must have confronted Connor," he explained.

Fiona's eyes widened in shock, she suddenly ran forward towards the base. Sally moved in front of her, blocking her way.

"What are you doing?" Fiona asked.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?!" Sally demanded.

"I'm going in. Mephiles will kill him!"

"If you go in there you could die along with him."

Fiona pushed her out of the way and began moving towards the base again. Bunnie however ran up behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her back. Fiona squirmed and jerked around trying to get out of Bunnies grip.

"I have to help him!" Fiona yelled.

"If you want to help him then you'll stay put. Connor wouldn't want anyone to die trying to save him," Bunnie explained.

Fiona relaxed and ceased with the squirming, Bunnie released her grip and allowed her to stand back with the others. Rouge moved forward and stood next to Fiona.

"If I know Connor, he's not going to go down without a fight," she explained, staring onwards towards the base.

(Inside)

The fight between Connor and Mephiles continued on. Mephiles was fairing far better than Connor. His natural powers proved to be far more dominant over what little power Connor held with the Chaos Emerald. They stood their ground for the moment, staring at each other as they attempted to sum up their opponent. Connor had removed his leather jacket and thrown it across the room, freeing his body from the constriction it gave. The left sleeve of his shirt had been torn off, his jeans were now ripped in several places as well. He had a split lip, the top of his forehead had been cut open, blood ran freely covering part of his face. He also had what felt like several cracked ribs. Mephiles had a deep gash across his chest from when Connor had managed to retrieve his knife, blood oozed out of the opening. His nose was also broken. Connor looked down at his watch again, two minutes remained.

"Looks like I won't be getting out of here after all," he muttered.

The two once again rushed towards one another. They both threw their fists forwards towards the others, knuckles connected as their fists met in the middle. Connor attempted a kick to the chest, Mephiles caught him by the leg and threw him into the wall. Connor got straight back onto his feet and ran towards Mephiles. He jumped into the air performing a roundhouse kick, Mephiles fell to the ground as shoe met skull. He stood up and grabbed Connor by the shoulders, Connor did the same. They began pushing towards one another in a test of strength. A sphere of energy started forming in middle of the two. It pulsated between black and green as it grew bigger every second. Lightning like sparks shot out of the sides of it from time to time. Out of the corner of his eye Connor noticed his watch, six seconds remained. Each second seemed like it passed by in slow motion.

_Five_

_Four_

_Three_

_Two_

Connor and Mephiles released their grips and threw a right punch towards each other.

_One_

As their fists meet with the others cheek the sphere of energy erupted, engulfing the two within.

Right on cue, the charges around the reactor detonated. The explosion destroyed the reactor and sent the building into chaos. Rooms around the base erupted into flames and debris. Walls burst open, ceilings crumbled to the ground below. Nothing inside had a chance of surviving.

(Outside)

Anybody outside the base had front row seat to spectacle. Flames burst out the side of the base like a dragon breathing fire. Sections of the building slowly collapsed in on itself. The Mobians watching may have almost enjoyed the moment if it weren't for their comrade still inside. The explosions worked their way from bottom to top. As Eggmans main office finally followed suit to the rest of the base Fiona dropped to her knees, she stared straight ahead as if hoping for some sort of miracle.

"He didn't make it out, did he?" Sonic quietly asked.

Nobody replied, they were all still coming to grips with what had just happened. Tails approached Fiona, slowly placing a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the ground. Shadow stood off to the side away from everyone, he heard a soft thud on the ground next to him. He looked down to find the green Chaos Emerald nestled in the grass. Picking it up he checked over it, trying to figure out how it got there. He smirked as he realized where it came from.

"I hope it served you well," he quietly murmured.

Most of the faces of everyone in the group held no emotion, a few contained hints of sadness. Fiona heard a fluttering noise in front of her, she opened her eyes and looked ahead to find source. Connors brown leather jacket fell to the ground in front of her. She got to her feet and picked the jacket up. She gazed over the jacket for a short moment before slipping it on over herself, zipping it up halfway as she did. She turned around and began to walk off.

"We should leave this place," she muttered to the others as she passed them by.

The others exchanged glances between one another before deciding it was indeed time to leave. They walked back into the forest, Knuckles still helping Sonic walk. The sound of an engine being started sounded ahead of them, they arrived back at the vehicles just in time to see Fiona speeding off.

"What's her problem?" Sonic asked, he was the only one who hadn't seen the interaction between her and Connor earlier.

Everyone took one last look behind themselves back where Eggmans base now laid in ruins before stepping into their vehicles.

"Let's go home," Sally said out loud as they drove off.

**Well there you have it, the last chapter. It's not over yet though, still an epilogue to come.**

**I apologies if the fight scene seemed to short to anyone, I'm not that great at writing them haha.**


	11. Epilogue: In The End

**Epilogue**

The trip back to Mobotropolis was a quiet one, nobody spoke a word. The only noise was the vehicles engines and Sonics pained groans from time to time. The first place they stopped was the hospital, Sonic was rushed into emergency as soon as they walked through the front doors. It was explained to them that they probably wouldn't be able to see Sonic until late afternoon the next day, it all depended on his health at the time. With nothing left that they could do, everyone parted ways. Most of them went home, a few stayed up to deal with other business.

Sally in particular had decided to walk back to the castle rather than drive. She enjoyed the moments of quietness she received on her walks, it gave her time to think. At this particular moment she was deep in thought over the events that passed moments ago. All the chaos, it had blown through like a hurricane. The one thing that really stuck in her mind was Connor and the sacrifice he made. The whole time, he had held so much hatred towards them and acted as if he didn't care what happened. Yet in the end he gave his life for those he apparently didn't care for. A small smile crossed her lips and single tear escaped from her eye.

"We retrieved one friend, but lost another," she thought to herself. "Wherever you are Connor, thank you for everything you've done," she said out loud this time.

Up ahead she noticed a familiar looking car, it was the same car that belonged to Fiona. Sitting on the hood of was none other than the red furred vixen herself, still wearing Connors jacket. She was staring at something in her hand while she smoked a cigarette of all things.

"Since when do you smoke?" Sally asked.

Fiona looked up, slightly startled by her sudden appearance.

"I found it in one of the pockets. It was his last smoke, I figured he wouldn't want it to go to waste," she replied.

Sally sat herself on the hood next to her, Fiona diverted her attention back to the object in her hand.

"What have you got there?" Sally asked her.

Fiona handed the object to her. It was a silver locket necklace.

"I found that in one of the pockets as well. There's no pictures in it though," Fiona explained.

"You should keep it," Sally said, handing it back after looking it over. "Perhaps we could dig up a photo somewhere to put inside."

A sad smile made its way onto Fiona's face. She pocketed the locket and flicked her cigarette away.

"You had feelings for him, didn't you?" Sally asked.

Fiona chucked lightly before replying. " Yeah, I guess I did. He was the first truly decent guy I met in long time, and now he's gone," she finished with a sigh.

"We're all going to miss him," Sally said, trying to comfort her. "If makes you feel any better, I'm sure he felt the same way as you did."

"And what makes you think that?"

"It was in his eyes. It was the way he looked at you. I've only ever seen him look at one other person that way, and that was Mina when he was still in love with her."

Fiona didn't reply, she just stared off straight ahead into the night. Sally could have sworn she heard a whispered thank you. Sally moved herself off the hood of the car and stood on the sidewalk, turning to face Fiona.

"I'll see you around I guess. If you ever want to talk about anything, don't be afraid to come and see me," she said.

Fiona gave her a small smile and a nod in response. Sally returned the gesture before walking off down the street. Fiona hopped back into her car and drove off down the street. She wasn't sure where she was going, all she knew was that she had to end up somewhere eventually.

(Somewhere outside Stormtrop Village)

It was early morning, the sun was just beginning to rise. It illuminated the beauty of the landscape as it rose higher into the sky. Li Moon was taking her usual morning walk. She wore a violet tunic like top with matching pants along with a pair of black boots, black bands adorned her arms. She enjoyed this time of the day, it allowed her to properly witness all the good that nature had to offer. She let out a relaxed sigh as the cool morning breeze lazily blew over her fur. Something in the field caught her eye, she couldn't quite make out what it was as she cautiously approached it. Once she was standing a meter away from it she realized it was a person. He was lying face down in the dirt, a pool of blood glistened around him. He had short blonde hair. The jeans and white shirt he wore were tattered and torn. She rolled him over onto his back to get a better view of him, she let out a yelp of shock at the sight before her. The best way to describe his condition was that his body had been mutilated.

He had a deep gash running down the right side of his body, a few ribs could be seen through the opening as well as his lung underneath the bones. His left cheek had been split open as if someone had given him a Glasgow smile. His right leg was in tatters. Shredded flesh barely clinging to the bone, the visible tendons were the only thing keeping the leg in place. His left arm was gone from the elbow down, a jagged edge of the humerus protruding from the stump.

Li Moon took a few paces backwards with her hand over her mouth, visibly shaken from the sight before her. She ended up bumping into something behind her. Turning around, she came face to face with a snow white fox. He wore a buttoned up sandy colored coat and glasses in his face. The fox looked at her then at the body on the ground.

"I-I-It's not what you think. I didn't-" she started. The fox cut her off with a raise of his hand.

"You have nothing to explain. I find it highly unlikely that you could do something like this," he chuckled.

He walked past Li Moon and knelt down next to the body. He pulled a rectangular shaped object out of his pocket and began slowly waving it above the body, the device made a small buzzing noise as he did so.

"What are you doing to his body?" Li Moon asked. The fox chuckled once again.

"I don't know if you could call him a body just yet," he said.

"What are you talking about? He's dead."

The two foxes stared at the body before them. Li Moon took a step back in surprise from what she saw next. The chest of the man on the ground rose as what sounded like gasp of air entered his throat.

**The End?**

******And that's the end for this particular story, so what did everybody think?**

**Just going to throw out a thank you to anybody who followed, favorited or reviewed my story. Also a thank you to anybody who took their time to actually read it, I appreciate it.**

**I hope you all enjoyed 'Missing'**

**Cheezel1993**


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